Forcing herself not to squirm, Sevrin closed her eyes and savored the warmth of Flynn’s strong hands as they moved over her body. This was what she craved, what her treacherous body needed. Yet each moment of surrender amplified the echoes from her past. Her father’s voice insisted that control equaled power and compromise was for the weak. Anything she wanted, she better be ready to take and she must always be willing to make sacrifices.
“You seem distracted.” Flynn fisted the back of her hair and tilted her face up. “Who are you thinking about?”
She opened her eyes and fought back a smile. Flynn was a handsome devil, with symmetrical features and a body shaped by genetic engineering and decades of discipline. But underneath his superficial glares and whispered commands, there was something almost insecure about him. He was like a guard dog that had been beaten once too often. He was just as likely to curl into a protective ball with his tail tucked between his legs as to attack.
Rather than admit that the ghost of her father was tormenting her again, she brought up the first believable subject that popped into her mind. “I was wondering what Roxie Latimer was doing tonight. Are you jealous?”
“I’m jealous of anything that intrudes on our time together. But why are you so obsessed with that human?” Flynn buried his face in the bend of Sevrin’s neck, his teeth lightly scraping. “And if she’s so important, why did you leave her behind?”
Flynn had Sevrin pressed against the wall in her bedroom. She was finally surrounded by an apartment worthy of royalty. Her quarters at the Farm were spacious and well-appointed, providing her with a level of comfort she hadn’t enjoyed since leaving Rodymia. The furniture was sleekly modern, the decorating tasteful, and her bed was large enough to accommodate two, perhaps even three people.
The thought made her smile. She could just imagine how Flynn would react if she invited someone else to participate in one of their sessions. He was delightfully possessive and willing to demonstrate his displeasure. He’d already made her strip down to her underwear, but he seemed to be in no hurry to get her naked. “Roxie is right where I need here, for now. She only thinks she’s been left behind.”
Without releasing her hair, he used his other hand to unfasten her bra. “Are you sure she’s where you think she is?”
She tensed, splaying her fingers against his chest. “What are you talking about?”
He swallowed with obvious difficulty and glanced away from her face. “I haven’t seen her for the past two days.”
“What?” She shoved him back then hissed as he inadvertently pulled her hair. His fingers released a millisecond later and her bra slipped down her arms. Unconcerned with her nudity, she didn’t bother catching the undergarment as it sailed toward the floor. If the frustration twisting his expression was any indication, he hadn’t intended to tell her even now. “She hasn’t been at work for two days?”
“It was easier to keep track of her when I could enter the store. Her car was there to begin with, so I thought she was just laying low after all of the excitement the other day. But her car isn’t at her apartment either. I’m not sure where she is.”
“And you didn’t think this was important enough to mention?” She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. He absently cupped one of her breasts, but she slapped his hand away. With blinding speed, he spun her around and dragged her arms behind her back. Sevrin tugged against his restraining fingers as his free hand moved boldly over breasts. “Let. Go.”
“Don’t want to.” He caught one of her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and squeezed. She gasped then slammed the back of her head into his chest. He chuckled, but didn’t release her. “I think you misbehave, so I’ll have no choice but to spank you.”
“I am not in the mood for our games. This is important.” She made her voice snarl, but her core melted and her inner muscles fluttered, desperate for the demanding fullness he was sure to give her. “Now let go of me.”
He tensed for a moment then pushed on with reckless indifference. “I need this and so do you.” With her hands still locked at the small of her back, he propelled her toward the bed. “You can stop being stubborn and enjoy it or grit your teeth until it’s over. I honestly don’t care which you choose.” After kicking her feet apart, he bent her over the bed and dragged her panties down around her knees. Then he slowly pushed his hand between her thighs, testing the level of her arousal. “Yeah,” he chuckled. “You’re not into this at all.” His fingers slid easily over her desire-soaked folds, each touch echoing his mocking tone.
She renewed her resistance, needing the strength of his hands as much as the arousing caress of his fingers. “If you can’t control yourself, then get it over with.”
He laughed again and drove two fingers deep into her aching core. “You’ve never seen me lose control, princess. Trust me, you’d remember.”
Already the rhythmic tension of an orgasm gathered around his fingers. She sucked in a breath and forced her muscles to relax. She needed him to command her pleasure, but she wasn’t willing to reveal how readily her body obeyed. “Roxie is incredibly important. We cannot lose track of her.”
He shifted his fingers to her clit, leaving her empty and aching. “I thought you tagged her when you used the language infuser on her.”
A strangled moan escaped her throat as he slowly tugged on the puffy little bundle of nerves. Damn, he was good at this. Maybe too good. “The tracker is malfunctioning.” She tensed as she heard her own words. The device error had seemed like a minor annoyance, something that required attention, yet hadn’t triggered her protective instincts. But paired with Flynn’s observations, the malfunction was much more suspicious. Unique Ink was Roxie’s life. She was never inattentive to her business. “I thought we’d kept the Ontarians too busy to worry about an insignificant human. Maybe I was wrong.”
Flynn’s hand came down hard on her naked ass cheek. Sevrin yelped then groaned as tingling heat spread through her lower body.
“Pay attention,” he snapped.
“But we—” He spanked her again and pleasure burst with shocking intensity, crawling across her nerve endings until her entire body seemed to pulse. She trembled, helpless to do more than gasp as the spasms went on and on.
He released her hands, and half a second later, his cock drove into her still clenching body. A fresh wave of sensation crashed over her and she cried out. She’d never been with anyone who could make her come so fast or so hard. He grasped her hips with both hands and filled her with strong, steady thrusts.
“Again.” He growled the word into her ear then bit her lobe hard enough to make her curse. “Let me feel you come.”
She fought the sensations this time, determined to make him work for it. When she didn’t immediately obey, he eased one of his hands between her thighs and fingered her clit again. She tossed her head, intentionally whipping his face with her hair. The wilder and more aggressive he became, the more she liked it.
Suddenly he pulled out then lifted her off her feet and tossed her onto the bed. She rolled to her back and tried to kick him as he joined her on the bed. He yanked her legs apart and bent her knees to her chest.
“Beg me.” His dark gaze drilled into hers as he held her legs open.
“Fu—”
He cut off her words with a punishing kiss and rubbed against her, dragging his shaft over her clit without entering her hungry body. Her inner muscles clenched, intensifying the emptiness inside her. She bucked, trying to align their bodies so he would have no option but to fill her again.
She pulled his hair and he paused long enough to trap her hands above her head. Gods she loved it when he held her down and pounded into her like he would die without her.
“Beg me.” He whispered the command against her lips as his hips continued their sensual movements.
“No. You’re already much too arrogant.”
Pulling back far enough so he could see her body spread out beneath him, he took his cock in his free hand and positioned it over her clit. “You love my arrogance. Now beg me or I’ll leave you like this, wet and empty, desperate for another taste of this.” He pushed just inside, giving her a teasing hint of fullness.
She bucked wildly, tossing her head as anger and frustration surged through her. “In me. Please.” The plea slipped out without her permission. She hadn’t meant to give in, at least not this easily!
He filled her slowly this time, forcing her to feel how tightly she stretched to accommodate his thick length. He pushed deeper and deeper, not stopping until his pelvis pressed against hers. “Now isn’t that better?” He brushed her hair back from her face, his gaze warm and caressing. Despite his outward aggression, his expression was surprisingly tender.
She needed to find out what had happened to Roxie. If the Mystic Militia had gotten their hands on her, it would spell disaster for Sevrin. She was about to voice her concerns when Flynn decided to move. He pulled nearly out just as slowly as he pushed in. She drew her legs up along his sides, resting her heels on his muscular back. He covered both her hands with his, interlacing their fingers. They stared into each other’s eyes, sharing emotions neither dared to acknowledge. Then he moved faster, sliding over and into her, claiming her body and forcing rational thoughts from her mind.
Too anxious to remain seated, Roxie stood up. This nightmare was supposed to have ended when Sevrin left town. Roxie wanted it to be over more than anything. Still, understanding Sevrin’s motivation should make the situation more tolerable. Wasn’t information supposed to be empowering? Then why was her heart racing and her mouth so dry she could barely swallow?
“Has Elias explained who Sevrin is?” Morgan asked, still loitering in the doorway to Elias’ living quarters.
“Her uncle is a ruler on their planet.” Rodymia. Their planet was called Rodymia.
“He isn’t a ruler, he’s the Crown Stirate, the ultimate authority for the entire planet.”
“What does her pedigree have to do with me?”
“Why don’t you come in and sit down. You’re making me nervous.” Elias closed the door behind Morgan then leaned his shoulder against it as she joined Roxie. There were only two chairs in the grouping, and the bed was on the other side of the room, which left Elias nowhere to sit.
Roxie sank back onto her chair but Morgan hesitated. “I’d love to break this to you gently, but we’re rapidly running out of time.” She motioned Elias toward his chair and positioned herself so she could see them both. “I have a lot to explain, so please keep your questions to a minimum.”
Though annoyed by the request, Roxie only nodded.
“According to Gerrod,” Morgan began, “your mother was a war bride. Do you know what that means?”
Roxie shook her head. If Elias mentioned it, she didn’t remember what he’d said. He’d told her so many things in the past two days, much of it had blurred.
“Bilarri and Rodymia have been at war for centuries. Hostilities ebb and flow, but the war has never officially ended.” When Roxie said nothing, Morgan went on. “Rodyte warriors capture Bilarrian females and force them to bear their children. The children are then termed battle born.”
“It sounds like the Shadow Assassins.”
“The Shadow Assassins were founded by a powerful Rodyte warrior,” Elias told her. “Many of their practices are similar.”
“Let’s stay focused.” Morgan clasped her hands behind her back, as she often did during briefings, likely to maximize her height and make her shoulders look broader. “The people on Bilarri can manipulate magic.”
“And those on Rodymia can’t. I know. Elias told me.”
“What else did you tell her?” Morgan asked Elias. “I don’t want to repeat what you’ve already covered.”
“Start with Pern,” Elias suggested.
Morgan nodded. “Pern Keire was the first ruler with balls enough to be honest about what he wanted. He was openly hostile toward anyone with paranormal abilities, while he frantically worked to restore such powers to his people.”
“Who is Pern Keire?”
“Sevrin’s father,” Elias clarified. “He’s dead now and his younger brother Quentin is on the throne.”
Roxie nodded, not wanting to slow down the process.
“Sevrin was not his only child, but she was by far his favorite,” Morgan continued. “She was born to his royal consort, the Rodyte version of a queen.”
“And who gave birth to the rest of his children?” Every question she asked postponed the specifics of her situation, but this seemed important.
“Before Pern bonded with his consort, he captured five war brides. Gerrod is Pern’s eldest battle-born son.”
A knot formed in the pit of Roxie’s stomach and a continuous stream of questions flooded her mind. Miraculously, she remained silent, needing to understand how the surreal events affected her.
“Pern wanted to restore magic to his people and he didn’t care who he destroyed along the way.” Morgan paused for a moment, likely to organize her thoughts. When she resumed, her voice was stronger, more authoritative. “We’re not sure who made the discovery or even if the phenomenon is naturally occurring, but human physiology is unusually receptive to alien DNA.”
Roxie swallowed past a sudden lump in her throat. “Do I want to know what that means?”
“It means humans are one of the few species able to breed with Ontarians, Rodytes and Bilarrians.” Morgan hurried on before Roxie could distract her. “Pern wasn’t just fond of claiming war brides for himself, he encouraged his warriors to target Bilarrian females with powerful abilities. A great number of the battle-born daughters were born with abilities, but very few of the sons seemed to be able to manipulate magic. Rodymia is a patriarchal, warrior culture so this was unacceptable to Pern. He’d begun searching for other methods of empowering male offspring when he learned about Ontarian hybrids being born of human mothers.”
“But humans can’t manipulate magic. How would his discovery help him?” Roxie fiddled with the drawstring on her borrowed pants, unable to stop the nervous motion.
“He wasn’t sure it would, but he was the type of person to explore any and all possibilities. He sent his eldest son with a small contingent of men and they hijacked the Ontarian program.”
“What sort of program?” Roxie braced for another flood of information. Even the simplest question seemed to result in a twenty-minute answer.
“The details aren’t nearly as important as what Pern learned.”
Even Elias looked confused by Morgan’s evasive response. “You’re talking about the Dirty Dozen, correct?”
“Correct. According to Gerrod, they had a purpose far more nefarious than knocking up coeds.”
“Knocking up coeds?” Roxie felt her jaw drop and snapped it shut. “Twelve Rodyte warriors went around intentionally impregnating human females?”
“Gerrod started with twelve Ontarian rebels. They were the ones known as the Dirty Dozen. However, Gerrod’s primary motivation for forming the group was to shield the movements of his real team, his Rodyte team. And there were a whole lot more than twelve of them.”
Roxie was stunned. Elias claimed that humans held little interest for the visiting aliens, but each word Morgan uttered proved him wrong. Human technology might be primitive compared to other planets, but humans themselves had attracted all sorts of unsavory attention. “Don’t Rodytes have to be bonded to produce children? Is the bond that easy to turn off and on?”
“Not at all,” Morgan assured her. “But a stubborn person can get good at anything if the motivation is powerful enough.”
“What possible motivation could there be for ‘knocking up coeds’?” Roxie shuddered. The more she learned about the Rodytes, the less she liked them.
With obvious reluctance Morgan explained, “Originally Pern was just testing the compatibility of human females. As I said, there aren’t that many species able to reproduce with Rodytes. But Gerrod is a battle-born hybrid. His mother was an exceptionally gifted Bilarrian. Gerrod’s abilities are scattered at best, but each of his female offspring was not just gifted, they were extremely powerful.”
“All that affects Jillian not Roxie.” Elias crossed one leg over the other, his foot lightly bouncing.
That was right—Gerrod was Jillian’s father. The one Sevrin had tried to murder!
“I’d agree, if that’s where the story ended. But it doesn’t. Pern was never content to let progress unfold naturally. He took a group of Gerrod’s children back to Rodymia, so his best scientists could figure out if it was a predictable pattern or a genetic anomaly.”
A sudden chill made Roxie shiver. Talk about ominous. This story sounded worse by the minute. “What did the scientists learn and were the children harmed by their experiments?”
It took a moment for Morgan to find the least provocative phrasing. “Gerrod didn’t mention the wellbeing of his children, so I presume we don’t want to know. And I’m not a geneticist, so I only understood a fraction of what he rattled off next.”
“Well, you better dumb it down even more if you expect me to understand any of it,” Roxie cautioned. “Science was my least favorite subject.”
Morgan released her hands and allowed her stance to relax just a little. “It wasn’t an anomaly. It was a consistent pattern. The mutation takes place in two stages and it’s triggered by coding contained on the X chromosome. The first time the coding appears an aptitude for magic is created, but a second X chromosome must be present for the person to utilize the gift. Anytime the Y chromosome is present, the child’s abilities remain dormant.”
“That’s why the girls could use their magic and the boys couldn’t?” Morgan nodded and Roxie sighed. All this conversation was doing was making her feel stupid. “I still don’t see what any of this has to do with me.”
“Be patient a moment longer. We’re almost to the part that directly pertains to you.” After Roxie’s reluctant nod, Morgan continued. “Because battle-born sons are seldom born with powers, they’re considered inferior.”
“That’s so hypocritical,” Roxie muttered, unable to silence her indignation. “Their fathers don’t have powers.”
“The battle-born exist for the express purpose of changing that fact and the vast majority of battle-born sons failed. They’re good for menial labor or they’re trained as frontline soldiers. They’re not considered shameful, but they are expendable.” Morgan’s bitter tone mad it obvious she didn’t agree with the attitude. She was just explaining how the Rodytes thought.
“Are there any good parts to this story?”
“The secret Pern uncovered was a second chance, a way for them to claim a higher place in society,” Morgan told her. “And by this time there were thousands of them. Though the men were basically powerless themselves, they were capable of creating empowered daughters. That would give them worth again, a purpose.”
Roxie was so confused, she couldn’t even think of a logical question. There had to be a reason Morgan was telling her all of this, but Roxie still didn’t understand.
“Pern was never content to play by the rules. He’d found an unexpected advantage and he intended to exploit it to the fullest. He had his scientists program a retrovirus that could be injected as part of the bonding process. It increased fertility in human females and greatly increased her chances of producing female offspring.”
Roxie swallowed, her throat suddenly tight. The random facts were finally starting to feel personal. Morgan had already told her that her mother was a war bride. “Was this done to my mother?”
“Yes. You’re one of the daughters that resulted from this experiment.”
“But the experiment failed,” Roxie insisted. “I don’t have abilities.”
“We’ll find out if that’s true in a moment. I wasn’t finished explaining the program. War is expensive, so is space exploration and scientific research. Pern indulged liberally in all three. So when he was ready to test his hypothesis, he didn’t have enough money to fund another trip to Earth.”
“I don’t like that sound of that.” Elias uncrossed his legs and his gaze grew even more intense. “Where’d he get the money?”
“He approached the fifteen most powerful families on Rodymia and told them he could provide a mate for the male of their choice and guarantee her ability to manipulate magic, all they had to do was fund the expedition.”
“Okay, hold on.” Roxie scooted to the edge of her chair. “If Rodytes are patriarchal, why would Pern pursue research that empowered females?”
“Because nothing else provided consistent results. Claiming war brides on Bilarri was a necessary step, but the offspring weren’t always empowered. Pern had unlocked the code. He found the perfect combination of ingredients that always resulted in an empowered child.”
“But that child was female,” Roxie pointed out. She needed that fact to be significant, to make her less desirable, yet the regret in Morgan’s eyes didn’t give her hope.
“Having each of his strongest warriors bound to an empowered female would still make Rodymia stronger than it had ever been before.”
“There are more like Roxie?” Elias tensed. “Are they listed in the notebook? How do we find them?”
Elias had already accepted Morgan’s story as fact and moved on to strategy, but Roxie was still struggling with the details. “There’s a Rodyte warrior out there who considers me his property?”
“Rodytes don’t own their mates, so the analogy is inaccurate.”
Now Morgan wanted to mince words? Roxie had to resist the urge to fly across the room and strangle her. “Fine. He doesn’t want to own me; he just wants to claim me as his mate and force me to pop out a bunch of magical baby girls. And Sevrin is going to make damn sure he knows where to find me.”
“It’s not just you,” Morgan reminded, though the fact did little to slow Roxie’s thundering heart. “The fifteen strongest, most politically connected Rodytes will soon come to Earth, expecting to collect their mates from Sevrin.”
“The fifteen are incidental. When word gets out that battle-born sons can produce empowered daughters simply by bonding with human females…” Elias just shook his head. “This is only the beginning. Earth won’t know what hit them.”
“Which is why this situation must be contained ASAP. Gerrod insists that Sevrin is the only one who knows how well the experiment worked and Sevrin is in serious trouble. Pern died suddenly. He didn’t have time to fill her in on the details of this program. She’s frantically searching through files and interviewing contacts, but Roxie is the only daughter Sevrin has been able to locate.”
“Lucky me.” Over and over Roxie had tried to imagine why Sevrin had targeted her. A prearranged marriage to an alien warrior never entered the equation.
“You are damn lucky,” Morgan snapped. “If our paths hadn’t crossed, you’d be at the mercy of the Rodytes right now.”
She knew Morgan was right, but she was too upset to apologize. Ever since these people barged into her life, situations had gone from bad to worse. Nausea twisted her stomach as she realized—if what Morgan said was true—her bad luck had begun before her birth.
“As of right now, Sevrin hasn’t told Quentin the details about any of this. All he knows is that Pern was conducting some sort of breeding experiment involving battle-born sons and human females. She doesn’t want to admit that she doesn’t know how to find the empowered brides.”
“Control Sevrin and we control the message?” Cunning sharpened Elias’ gaze, made him look dangerous.
“Exactly. We can use Sevrin’s likeness to convince Quentin the experiment failed, that Pern’s hypothesis was wrong. But that will only be an option if the real Sevrin can’t contradict our message.”
“It’s a serious Hail Mary pass,” Elias grumbled.
“It’s the only play we have left. Quentin is being pressured by the families. He has to tell them something. Why not use that pressure to our advantage?”
Roxie shook her head. She might not know much about alien politics, but she understood proud men. “He’s not going to admit that he failed. No ruler would.”
“He didn’t fail. Sevrin did. And when her body is found, he’ll claim that he made her pay for bringing shame on his family. Win-win situation.”
“Unless you’re Sevrin.” Roxie knew Sevrin was ruthless and corrupt, but that didn’t keep a spark a pity from erupting.
“This is all according to Gerrod.” Elias scrubbed his jaw, clearly looking for flaws in the story. “We thought he was a harmless refugee hiding from his past and suddenly he’s Pern’s right-hand man.”
“That’s what he needed everyone to think,” Morgan explained. “He was hiding in plain sight while he carried out his father’s orders. Even Sevrin thinks he’s just one of their father’s many henchmen.”
“Maybe she found out who he really is. That could be why she tried to kill him.” Roxie shivered. She’d thought her life had moved beyond associations with people ruthless enough to kill for power or profit.
“It’s possible, maybe even probable. We just don’t know for sure.”
Elias shook his head. Apparently Morgan had yet to win him over completely. “How do we know we can trust him?”
“We don’t need to trust him,” Morgan insisted, “as long as we can verify his information.”
“Then what tangible proof do we have that any of this is true?”
“As you know, Gerrod had a thumb drive hidden in his shoe. He never went anywhere without it. He finally unlocked the coded entries and showed me a bunch of messages between Quentin and Sevrin and between the families and Quentin. I have no idea how Gerrod got ahold of them, but they looked authentic to me. The families want to know when their investment will be rewarded. If Sevrin jerks them around for too long, it’s more than possible that they’ll head this way and hunt for their brides themselves. Don’t forget this is the culture that gave the Shadow Assassins their love for hunting mates.”
Finally understanding the scope of her peril, Roxie crossed her arms over her stomach. “What the hell are we going to do?”
“The objective hasn’t changed,” Morgan insisted. “We have to find Sevrin. But there are a couple of details that need to be sorted before we set our trap.”
“Like whether or not I have latent abilities?”
“Yes. I’d much rather send a novice Mystic into danger than someone who has no way to defend herself.”
“I thought that’s what I was for,” Elias objected.
“You are. And human to human, you will never lose. Unfortunately, we’re not dealing with humans. If Roxie can learn how to raise a shield or open a lock with her mind, it’s worth delaying her return for a day or two.”
“I have to call Tess and Jett. They need to hear my voice. Text messages are too easy to fake.” The glare she shot Elias earned her a soft chuckle from him. “If you let me talk to them, I’ll cooperate.”
Morgan nodded. “I’ll tell Lor what’s going on and he can decide how to proceed. This is out of my realm of expertise. As soon as one of the Mystics has scanned you, Elias can take you topside so you can make your calls.”
“Sounds good.” Compromise. They were starting to work together rather than butting heads and it was infinitely more productive.
“We’re going to conference at o-six-hundred to discuss options. Obviously, I expect you both there.” Morgan looked from Elias to Roxie and back. “I’ll see you in the morning.”