Lexine Monroe has spent her life hiding her true nature
from those around her. The preternatural strength and
speed that sent her to the top of her field as a criminal
enforcer have doomed her to a life alone.
Now, she has to team up with bounty hunter Blane
Sebastian, racing against the clock to rescue a kidnapped
child due to be sold at auction on the Glory Dome space
station.
Six years earlier, Sebastian was Lexine’s teenage
crush. Fortunately for her, she is long past the point
where a hard body and a sexy smile will put butterflies in
her belly.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents either are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental.
Huntress At Large
Copyright © 2012 Ali Atwood
ISBN: 978-1-77111-189-8
Cover art by Angela Waters
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reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in
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Huntress At Large
Huntress Chronicles 2
By
Ali Atwood
1
Chapter One
arth, Monroe Investigations Headquarters.
11 October 2301
“Thanks for meeting me on such short notice.” Kat
Monroe paused to pour her visitor a cup of coffee. “It’s
been a long time since we talked.”
“It has, yes.” Blane Sebastian took the proffered
coffee cup and sat back to sip. “I understand you’re still
in partnership with your sisters?”
She smiled. “Yep, we’re still a family business.”
Brigitta and Lexine Monroe, affectionately known as
Brig and Lex, were Kat’s younger twin sisters. While
they’d followed Kat’s example by becoming private
investigators, they also specialized—Brig was the safety
measures expert and Lexine was a licensed bounty
hunter.
Kat sat back and studied Sebastian over the rim of her
coffee cup. She’d met him six years before while he was
working as a time jump sentinel. Now, he was a
freelance enforcer—the man you called in to go up
against the galaxy heavies. “I need to beg a favor,
Blane.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“We could use your expertise with a tricky
E
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2
assignment that’s just come in.”
His eyebrows raised a fraction, humor glinting in his
dark eyes. “I’m flattered to think the super-efficient
Monroe sisters are seeking my help. What type of op are
we talking about?”
“An undercover one…infiltrating the Glory Dome.”
He looked interested. “The Glory Dome?”
“How much do you know about it?”
His gaze narrowed. “Same as most, I guess. It’s an
outlaw space station that specializes in debauchery. Last
I heard, it was positioned somewhere in the Zaitos
quadrant.”
She nodded. “Still is, according to a reliable
informant. And the Dome organizers are planning to
auction off a nine-year-old girl on Friday at Nineteen
Hundred Standard Mittler Time.”
His face sobered, but he didn’t look surprised.
“As sickening as that is, I’m sure you know that child
sex trafficking is on the rise—primarily because it is all
but impossible to apprehend the abductor once a child is
taken off planet.”
Kat dropped the other shoe. “Since there’s a child
involved and the mission could use a woman’s touch, I’d
like to pair you with Lexine.”
She watched his eyes flicker, but she couldn’t read his
thoughts. “I wouldn’t ask Lex to go into the Glory Dome
alone,” she continued. “But if you’d take the lead…”
He didn’t react for a moment, then inclined his head.
“How can I refuse such a righteous mission? And the
chance to put those evil bastards’ noses out of joint.”
“There’s one more thing. Under the circumstances, I
told the client, Joelle Minster, who happens to be the
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3
Director of the Interplanetary Child Protection Agency,
that we’d do the job without compensation.”
His mouth tweaked at the corners. “Remind me never
to play poker with you, Monroe.” She knew he had an
altruistic side and did his charitable deeds. She also
figured he was also businessman enough to appreciate
the possible benefits if he succeeded in rescuing the
child from the infamous space station. Once the
superluminal media hubs got hold of it, he stood to reap
a wealth of publicity and future contracts.
For her part, the hardest part of helming Monroe
Investigations was sending her younger sisters off on
potentially dangerous missions. Yet, as she’d repeatedly
told herself, the twins were extensively trained in
weaponry and they had their supersenses to assist them.
She had to trust them to handle themselves.
She slid a data cube across her desk. “The child’s
history is all in there and since you’ll have to search the
Dome thoroughly to find her, you’ll need access to the
backstage areas, which means you’ll need jobs, perhaps
in the casino, or restaurant. Do you have a contact that
can get you posts in a hurry? If not I can tap a source.”
“Yeah, I’ve got someone. He’ll also create alternative
IDs on short notice. I’ll give you his contact so you can
transfer Lexine’s info.”
* * * *
“Where is Lexine by the way?” An image of her face
flashed through Blane’s mind, the way she’d looked at
him just before she walked away. She’d look different
now—six years of difference.”
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4
Pulling up the data index on her console screen, Kat
answered without looking up, “Lex is off planet at
present, on vacation.”
Blane took a moment to pose his next question, “Are
you saying she doesn’t know anything about this…about
partnering me?”
Kat glanced up and studied his widened gaze. “Well,
no, I was in the process of trying to contact her when you
arrived. But the comlinks are disrupted in her area due to
solar storms.” She waved that away. “It’s not a problem.
Lex will agree. You can collect and brief her on your
way.”
As Blane frowned, wondering how that would go,
footsteps sounded in the corridor and the office door
opened to admit Max Jericho. He was Kat’s husband and
the man Blane still considered his best friend, even
though they hadn’t seen each other for a long while.
Blane came to his feet in one, supple motion, the black,
stretch fatigues he was wearing outlining his muscled
body as he moved around the desk to shake Max’s hand.
“Hey, Bud, great to see you again—your charming
wife’s just engaged me for a mission with Lexine. And I
hear you’re about to become the new head of the time
jump division.”
Max’s black brows lifted in surprise. “The contract’s
just been okayed.” He looked over at Kat.”
She shook her head, holding up her hands in a don’t
shoot gesture. “I didn’t tell him.”
Blane laughed at their byplay. “Blame it on the
unfailing in-house network. Two of the guards at the
security desk were discussing it when I arrived, along
with the fact that Brett may be running the training
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5
academy next year.” Brett Jericho was Max’s clone,
acknowledged publically as his younger brother.
“Brett’s new position is still up in the air,” Max said.
“Overseeing the academy is a full-time job and Brett
hates to leave the ranch for too long these days. At
present, he’s keeping watch over a prize filly who’s
about to foal.” The Jerichos raised thoroughbreds in
Southern California, their ranch renowned for producing
a champion stallion that set new flat race records.
“Come to think of it,” Max went on, “when are you
going to come out to the ranch and spend some time with
Brett and me, maybe go trout fishing like we used to?”
Max and Brett, like Kat, had known Blane from the
time they’d all worked as time jump sentinels attached to
the Epochal Monitoring Agency, EMA for short—the
organization that regulated time travel. Occasionally,
when the EMA needed their special abilities, they would
undertake a mission for the Agency.
* * * *
A short time later, after their goodbyes, Max glanced
back over his shoulder, waiting until his senses told him
Blane had walked to the end of the corridor and was
heading out of the office building. “Okay,” he said,
turning to face Kat. “What are you up to?”
Studying an open datacube on her desk, Kat glanced
up with a blank look on her face. “I don’t know what you
mean.”
He sighed. “Don’t give me that innocent face. Why
are you finagling things to throw Lex and Blane
together?” He held up a hand before she could reply.
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6
“And don’t tell me you don’t have enough staff to cover
incoming contracts. I know for a fact your new-hire,
Talia Bevan, is chomping at the bit for an assignment.”
The fact that Max was incredibly insightful for a man
was one of the reasons Kat had married him. After five
years, she was still madly in love. Still, there were times
she wished he wasn’t so damn perceptive. “Talia doesn’t
have the savvy for this job.”
Max stared. “She’s a decorated EMA sentinel. I
believe that’s why you head-hunted her.”
Kat gave a frustrated hand gesture. “All right, I didn’t
tell you about my plan because Lex wouldn’t be pleased
to know we’re talking about her behind her back.”
He quirked a brow. “And how will she feel about
your attempt to match-make?”
Kat bared her teeth. “Stop being so damn astute. I’m
doing this because Lex can’t find a man she likes.”
His golden eyes filled with tender humor.
“Sweetheart, your sister is all of twenty-five. There’s
plenty of time for her to find someone. Come to think of
it, Brigitta doesn’t have anyone special either—”
“Brig’s different. She hasn’t met a man she wanted,
yet, whereas, Lex…” She gestured the unspoken text.
Max covered her hand, bringing her fingers to his
lips, a familiar affectionate gesture. “I know you mean
well, my little do-gooder, but I think you’re making a big
mistake forcing them to work together.”
Huntress At Large
7
Chapter Two
he planet Baylis II, Sandy Shores Resort.
Tropical Night’s Bar, October 12 2301
Lex Monroe had spent a pleasant day windsurfing and
relaxing on a white, sandy beach, her sun-kissed face
now half hidden by her wealth of dark hair as she
slouched in a circular blue chair, sipping a glass of
Taiberry wine.
Anyone looking at her dressed in a multicolored
gauzy top and matching short skirt that offered glimpses
of cleavage and long, shapely legs would presume she
was a soft, girlie kind of female and therefore harmless.
In truth, there was a small blaster clipped inside her left
ankle boot and the wide, gold bracelet on her right wrist
sheathed a razor-sharp blade. Though she was relatively
new to the cutthroat world of bounty hunting, or tracers
as they were sometimes called, Lex had already seen too
much to be anything but cynical. She’d made the switch
to bounty hunting because they fared well in the
twenty-third century, owing to the difficulties catching
Earthling criminals who’d escaped to another planet. For
the Monroe sisters who were all born in the past, but
took the opportunity to live in the future, hunting ran in
the family. They came from a long line of women with
strong, psychic energy and lightning-fast reflexes, which
T
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8
made Lex a formidable opponent for any human, or
alien.
Now, she sipped her drink and catalogued the men
milling around the bar area. There was the same mix you
would find in any resort on Earth, but none sparked her
interest. She didn’t know why she’d let Kat talk her into
this off-planet, singles-resort vacation.
“Hello, my lovely. I’m sure loads of people have told
you that you have fabulous hair?”
Lex flicked her eyes upward to see a boyishly
handsome man with a drink in his hand. She regarded
him with a flat expression while his gaze moved from
her thick naturally curly hair down over the curves of her
body. Men had always come easy to Lex, with the
exception of one, and few stimulated her chemistry
adequately to merit more than a few dates.
Her present admirer leaned down and rested his free
hand on the back of her chair. He smelled strongly of
alcohol. “You strike me as a lady who doesn’t like to
waste time. So why don’t we dispense with formalities
and get right to it? I can promise you a night you’ll never
forget.”
Looking into his alcohol-glazed eyes, Lex could
visualize the scene if she was desperate enough for
meaningless sex to take him to bed. With little or no
foreplay, he’d slam into her, thrust wildly, bellow as he
reached orgasm and roll off onto his back to fall asleep
snoring.
However, since this was a singles resort and she was
supposedly on the prowl for men, she could hardly
blame the guy for trying. “Sorry,” she said politely, “but
not tonight. Maybe I’ll catch up with you tomorrow at
Huntress At Large
9
the beach.”
Unabashed, he waved her words away. “Let’s get to
know each other now. My name’s Richard Darrow, but
my buddies call me Big Richard.” He executed a slow
wink, pausing for her reaction. “Dick…get it?”
Aware the people at the next table had stopped talking
to listen, Lex stifled the urge to tell him she didn’t have
sex with complete pricks. “Look, I’m trying not to be
uncivil here, but the answer is no. Now, please move
away from the table.”
He stared in blatant disbelief. “Do you know who I
am?” He jabbed a finger at her face, which, fortunately
for him, didn’t make contact. “I’m Richard Darrow, as in
Darrow’s Space Industries. I’m mega rich, baby. And
you just blew your big opportunity. You only get one
shot at me.”
Lex watched his flush-faced performance with
cynical amusement. “Uh-huh. Well thank you for
sharing that. Now, turn around and shuffle back to where
you came from, Dick.”
His eyes bulging as if he was struggling to think of an
appropriate comeback, he finally muttered an expletive
and stalked away.
Watching him head to the bar area spilling drops of
his drink on the floor, Lex reflected that male jerks were
an irritant throughout the ages, and there seemed to be an
abundance of them at this location. It crossed her mind to
forfeit the money she’d spent for ten days at the resort
and find herself a bounty assignment, one she could
really get her teeth into. Even as the idea formed, she
nixed it. Kat would doubtlessly give her a sisterly
talking-to about her life coming second to the job. The
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10
thing was, Lex couldn’t see what was wrong with being
an A-type overachiever. Not if you enjoyed what you
were doing—
She jolted slightly when her senses stirred, as if a
hand had touched the nape of her neck. Sitting up
straighter, she swept a glance around the room, her
muscles tensing, ready to react to whatever was coming
at her. Her gaze passed over a tall man standing in the
shadows at the far end of the bar, then jerked back when
her senses recognized him. Well, damn. Of all the gin
joints in all the world…
She forced air into her suddenly constricted lungs
watching him move out of the shadows and navigate his
way toward her with the slow, confident gait she
remembered. He was dressed casually in black pants and
a white collarless shirt, the sleeves rolled to the elbows,
showing his muscular forearms. He still radiated virility,
and clearly, he hadn’t gained an ounce of fat during the
last six years. If it crossed her mind that it was strange to
see him at a singles resort, she decided he was probably
here on a mission. More to the point, he’d found her at a
singles resort, which was a little embarrassing. In the
script she’d written in her head, preparing herself for the
day when she finally did come face-to-face with Blane
Sebastian, she’d visualized running into him in a
restaurant while she was enjoying a meal with a
good-looking man, proving she’d moved on.
Now, as Blane’s black trousers and boots appeared in
front of her, her mouth was dry and her insides were
jittering. She drew in a long, slow breath and looked up.
From her point of view, it was all bad news. Time had
barely left a mark on his stunning face, his bronzed skin
Huntress At Large
11
and those dark eyes, a fascinating contrast to his golden
hair, which was long and glossy and braided to his
shoulders.
He smiled that slow, pulse-quickening smile she
remembered. “Hello, Lexy, I wasn’t sure if it was you.
It’s been a while.”
He was the only one who had ever called her Lexy.
As jumpy as she was inside, she’d been a tracer long
enough not to show what was in her mind or let it come
through her voice. “Hello, Blane. Yes, it has been quite a
while, and quite a surprise to find you here.”
“I’m not intruding on anything, am I?” He lifted his
well-sculptured chin in the direction her admirer had
taken.
“She shook her head. “No, he was just a guy passing
by.”
Nodding, Blane pulled a chair toward him. He sat and
shifted sideways to stretch out his long leg, which put
Lex at eye-level with the strong tendons in his neck.
He turned his head to look at her. “So, how’ve you
been, Lexy? I hear through the grapevine you’re
establishing yourself quite well in the business.”
She had almost forgotten about the power of his
eyes—velvety brown, flecked with gold and full of
intelligence. And she didn’t for one moment imagine
that he’d been keeping tabs on her personally. He would
naturally stay abreast of things in his trade. And she
would be a subject of conversation, simply because she
was one of the few female bounty hunters making a
name for herself, earning her competitors grudging
respect by beating them out of several money-spinning
contracts over the last two years. Besides that, Monroe
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12
Investigations was now one of the most trusted security
firms in Southern California.
“I’m managing to stay busy,” she understated. “How
about you…are you working, or vacationing here?”
Either way, she was taking the first shuttle out in the
morning.
“I’m here on business,” he replied.
She nodded, trying not to look at his eyes.
Determined as she was not to react to his magnetic
charm, she knew that the longer she sat there, the more
he would chip away at her resistance, stirring up a fresh
batch of dangerous feelings. The fact that no other man
had put her libido into top gear the way he did really
pissed her off.
She took nasty pleasure in snubbing him, deliberately
lifting her arm to look at her wrist unit. “Sorry to cut this
short, but I’m afraid I have to leave. We’ll catch up on
old times another day.”
She was pleased to see surprise jump into his dark
eyes as she rose and picked up her purse, giving him a
quick farewell nod. “Best of luck with your assignment.”
She turned to walk away with a satisfied gleam in her
eyes.
“You’ve been conscripted, Monroe.”
Her keen ears picked up his softly spoken words over
the hum of conversation. She turned slowly, with
narrowed eyes and a sense of foreboding. “Conscripted,
for what…by whom?”
“Kat wants us to team up on a mission.”
The statement sent her pulses soaring as she walked
back and sat down slowly, keeping her gaze on his face.
“Why didn’t Kat get in touch with me herself? There
Huntress At Large
13
weren’t any pending missions when I left.”
“Apparently, this job just came in.” As he spoke, he
turned his head to signal to a passing waiter, continuing
over his shoulder, “Kat tried to reach you, but solar
storms are disrupting comms in this system.”
A young waiter rushed up to the table, his freckled
face breaking into a bucktoothed grin. “Yes, sir, what
can I get you?”
“A flagon of local beer, please.”
Lex watched the exchange while she considered.
Since her older sister had spent days talking her into this
vacation, it seemed odd that Kat would recall her from it
after a scant twenty-four hours. It would have been
easier to recruit another freelancer to team up with
Sebastian. In addition, Kat must know that the last thing
Lex wanted was to work with him. Granted, she’d never
spoken about the past episode in Boston, but she’d
assumed her psychic sisters had guessed the truth. Then
again, six years onward, Kat evidently didn’t think there
would be a problem with them working together—and
there shouldn’t be. They were both professionals. Still,
Lex wondered if there was a way to finagle herself out of
the situation.
“I’m surprised you agreed to come in on a Monroe
Investigations contract. I thought you freelancer types
preferred to work alone.”
“Your older sister is very persuasive.” He looked up
as the smiling waiter placed a mug of frothy beer in front
of him.
Watching him take a long swallow of beer, Lex
picked up her half-full glass of wine again and sipped,
using her psychic talent to try to get a better fix on his
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14
thoughts. They had eluded her in the past and,
annoyingly, they still did. Yet, she didn’t imagine he was
overjoyed at the idea of working with her. “Why did Kat
feel this mission calls for two hunters?”
He took another swallow of beer before he replied
with, “It’s a challenging mission that needs a woman’s
touch. Long story short, we’ll be liberating a
nine-year-old female from the Glory Dome space station
before she’s sold at auction on Friday at Nineteen
Hundred Standard Mittler Time.”
Like Blane, Lex reacted with surprise at the mention
of the Dome, then grimaced in disgust. “God, that’s
nasty!” The longer she was on the job dealing with
monsters, the more she realized that some evils couldn’t
be controlled. It didn’t mean you shouldn’t try, though.
She exhaled and nodded. “Okay, I’m with you.”
“There’s one more thing. Since the child has been
foster cared, Kat wants us to do the job for free.”
Lex didn’t look surprised. She and her sisters did a lot
of pro bono work. Now that she knew an innocent
child’s life was at stake, she was keen to go. She figured
that with travel time, exploration of the Dome and the
rescue stage, she could count on at least three days spent
in Sebastian’s company. She could handle it. In fact, it
might be just what she needed to put him into
perspective, so to speak, to stop thinking about him as a
paragon. She looked up to see he was watching her.
“Do you need to collect any equipment on the way?”
She shook her head. “Everything I need is with me. I
always keep my emergency kitbag.”
“What about your appointment?”
She blinked. “Appointment…”
Huntress At Large
15
“The one you were rushing off to when I appeared.”
Damn him for being so sharp. “I’ll call and explain
when I get back to my room,” she lied. “When do you
want to leave?”
“As soon as I get some sleep. I’ve been awake for
thirty-eight hours.”
“Okay, but even if we’re leaving in the morning, we
should probably book seats on a shuttle tonight. They
run full out of here, plus, as you’ve doubtless figured,
we’ll need to rent private transportation along the way.
We can hardly bring the child out of the Dome by regular
means.”
“I have my own ship.”
She stilled and blinked. Her mind pictured a refitted
bucket. “Well, that will make things easier,” she said
carefully. “But since the Dome is bound to have the
latest in offensive equipment, does your craft have
adequate shielding and drive?”
“No problem.”
Knowing enough about men and their toys, she
wasn’t reassured, yet she was in the game, regardless of
the danger. And hadn’t she wished for an assignment she
could get her teeth into? She nodded and rose once more.
“All right, what time should we meet at the
spaceport…and what’s your berth number?”
There was a sudden tension in him she couldn’t
fathom.
“I think I mentioned I’ve been awake for a long
time.”
She nodded. “We have time to get a good night’s
sleep. We’ll leave when you want. We still have three
days, almost four with the time change.”
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16
“The problem is there are no rooms available. Not
even a spare staff room. I already asked.”
She stared. Fate, she decided, was a real bitch.
However, she needed him well rested for the dangerous
mission ahead. After all, it wasn’t as if he wanted her as
a woman. “Problem solved,” she said. “I have a small
suite with an adjuster sofa you can use.”
Lex had been lying still in bed, listening intently for
the last half-hour. Blane was not making any sound now.
He must be asleep. Too bad she couldn’t do the same.
She was trying to blank her mind, but it kept throwing up
flashes of that summer at Cape Cod. In truth, the episode
was always drifting around the edges of her mind…
She and Brig had just turned nineteen when they had
taken summer waitressing jobs before they started
college. After discussion, they’d opted to work in
different restaurants because as close as they were, the
attention they drew as twins could be tiresome at times.
Now that they were young women, they wanted to
establish themselves as individuals.
On Lex’s first day at a popular seafront restaurant,
Blane Sebastian walked in and sat at a table in her
section. As she remembered, he’d looked impossibly
sexy in faded jeans that showed off his great butt, and a
soft, navy sweater covering his wide torso. Lex was
immediately fascinated and amazed that such a gorgeous
man was eating alone. So far, she’d only dated college
boys who were solely interested in their own
satisfaction. This man had an aura of authority about
him. She didn’t doubt he would be an exceptional lover.
While she knew she wasn’t bad to look at, she suddenly
Huntress At Large
17
wished she was smaller, with a more sophisticated
appearance, blue eyes instead of gray. She also
desperately wished she wasn’t cursed with hair that
curled wildly on humid days.
Now, she came up behind him, admiring his braided
blond hair as she placed a glass of ice water on his table.
Pulling her pad and pencil out of her apron pocket, she
cleared her throat. “Good afternoon, sir, can I get you
something to drink while you look at the menu?”
He looked up with a warm smile, glancing at her
name badge. “Hi, Lexine, yes, coffee, please, and what’s
good today?” His deep voice had an alluring, dusty tone.
She gave him her warmest smile and heard the
breathless note in her voice as she replied, “Well, I can
recommend the sea bass, plus it’s on special today. And
the scrod’s always good.”
“Hmm.” He glanced down at the menu again. She
noticed he had a tiny golden arrow-shaped earring
dangling from his right ear. It didn’t take much
imagination to visualize herself licking the earring
before she started on his ear.
He looked up with a smile in his eyes. “Okay, on your
recommendation, I’ll give the sea bass a try.”
She almost stammered as she asked for his side
orders.
Over the next several weeks, Blane had visited the
restaurant regularly, mentioning in conversation that
he’d rented a beach house for the summer to work on the
boat he was building. He seemed to like her as a person
and a woman, calling her Lexy and telling her it suited
her better than Lex. He also seemed interested in her
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18
future plans after college. When he told her he was a cop
in California, it seemed perfect since she was aiming for
a criminal justice degree. In her mind, she started to
write a future for them. When he returned to California,
they would call, or email each other every day. Maybe
he’d fly in to spend a long weekend with her. Perhaps
next year, they’d spend Christmas and Thanksgiving
together and she’d meet his family. While she was in
college, they would take it slowly. Then when she’d
graduated, they would work out a way to be together
permanently. If it bothered her that he’d imparted very
little about his background and he hadn’t made any
sexual moves, she told herself he’d talk about his family
and upbringing when he was ready. He was also a
gentleman, biding his time because of her youth.
Then, on a busy Saturday at the restaurant while Lex
was enjoying her lunch break on one of the benches
stretched out along the ocean promenade, Blane came
into view, making his way across the sand, wearing a
navy t-shirt and beige shorts that showed off his long,
muscled legs.
“Nice spot,” he called out climbing the steps up from
the beach.” The manager at your restaurant told me
you’d probably be out here so I brought coffee.”
Tossing the rest of her sandwich to the hovering
seagulls, Lex took the paper cup he offered, gazing up at
him quizzically. “This is a nice surprise. I thought you’d
be working on your boat today.” He’d already
mentioned he’d be leaving at the end of next week.
Though she would miss him terribly, she’d come to
terms with it. College would start in three weeks and she
wanted to do well in her exams. This parting was simply
Huntress At Large
19
an adjournment before they began their real life together.
Blane sat down and pulled the lid off his cup, taking a
deep swallow before he spoke, “My plans have changed,
Lexy. I’ll be leaving ahead of time…tomorrow.”
She glanced up at his attractive profile. The wind was
blowing wisps of his blond hair around his tanned face.
The tone of his voice made her think his early departure
had something to do with his job that he couldn’t talk
about. Despite what she’d told herself, now that he was
really leaving, dismay swept her. “What time does your
flight leave?”
“Early.” He spoke without taking his eyes off the
crashing waves. “Please say goodbye to Brig for me.”
He’d met her twin on a few occasions.
Lex nodded, letting several moments pass while she
waited for him to ask her to come and visit him in
California. When he continued to sip coffee, she
prompted, “Will you, ah, call me when you get home, let
me know you arrived safely?”
He looked down at his half-empty cup, then tossed it
into an adjacent trash container. “I can’t, Lexy. I’m
sorry.”
The sound of waves and children’s laughter coming
from the beach, faded into the background as she tried to
absorb the meaning behind his words. “I don’t
understand. Why can’t you—” The breath caught in her
throat as a terrible thought occurred. She struggled to
form the words, “A-are you…married?”
He didn’t react for a moment. When he turned to face
her, his dark eyes were gentle. “No, I’m not married, but
my situation is…complicated.” Her bewildered
expression must have made him add, “I want you to
Ali Atwood
20
know, Lexy, that I’ve enjoyed your company very, very
much. If I’ve misled you, I’m sorry.”
Oh God. She could barely breathe. She turned to look
at the ocean so he wouldn’t see the tears welling while
her heart started to pound painfully in her chest. If he’d
been fighting his attraction for her out of loyalty to
another woman—that, she could accept, even
respect…but to lead her on for weeks?
No matter what he was saying now, his interest had
definitely been implied. Enough to get her all stirred up
when he had no intention of following through. Words
crowded in her throat. She wanted to shout at him,
demand to know what kind of cruel game he was
playing. Another part of her wanted to throw herself into
his arms and press her face against his strong neck while
she breathed in the masculine scent of him. She cared so
much. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man.
Don’t break down, Monroe, don’t you dare break
down.
He touched her arm. “You’re a beautiful, intelligent,
young woman, Lexine Monroe, and you’re going to find
someone much more deserving of you than me.”
Hearing him mouth that hackneyed exit line was the
worst thing of all. Heat leapt into her eyes and she surged
to her feet. “You’re right. I fell for an image that isn’t
you. I don’t even know you.” You heartless sonofabitch.
She spun away.
He leaped off the bench, grasping her arm, swinging
her around to face him. “Lexy, I’m handling this badly.
The last thing I wanted to do is hurt you.”
She punched his arm, jerking free from his grasp. “Go
to hell.”
Huntress At Large
21
Much later, after she learned the truth, there was so
much to think about—that Blane Sebastian was a
sentinel who’d travelled back through time with his
partner to guard her and Brigitta from a time traveling
killer—the same individual who’d planned to sell Kat as
a combatant in the Glory Dome’s gladiatorial arena.
More
amazingly,
Lex
discovered
that
her
great-grandmother, Tordia, had come from the future,
traveling to the past for a short time to find foster parents
for her baby daughter, Saria. The mother and child had
been in danger from the man who had held Tordia
captive for six months. In her journal, Tordia had
revealed that it had broken her heart to leave her baby
girl behind, but it was the only way to protect the child.
When she returned to the future, Tordia had apparently
spent the rest of her life on the run. When or how she
died was still a mystery.
By virtue of their heritage, the EMA had given Lex
and Brigitta the opportunity to take up residency in the
future along with their older sister, Kat. Lex definitely
felt more at home here than she had in the past. In this
millennium, her psychic and kinetic talents didn’t mark
her as a freak.
For a while, part of her had hoped Blane would get in
touch. He didn’t—not even to apologize for his
deception—not that he had anything to apologize for,
she admitted, even if she hated to admit it. Clearly, he
couldn’t reveal the truth at the time. He had to mislead
her. It was the only way to stay close enough to guard her
without being mistaken for a stalker. The hardest thing to
accept was that he’d inadvertently offered her a glimpse
Ali Atwood
22
of a love idyll while his feelings for her were, at most,
those for a kid sister.
She sighed heavily as she returned to the present,
glancing over at the glowing chronometer, 0115 hours.
She needed to sleep. Moving upward, she plumped the
pillows and lay flat again, deciding to meditate herself to
sleep. Slowing her breathing, she relaxed her muscles
and visualized a seascape scene, like the one she’d
enjoyed today—blue skies above a serene white, sandy
bay.
She repeated her mantra while she concentrated on
seabird calls and gently, rolling waves. When Blane’s
dark eyes appeared above the whitecaps, Lex snapped
her eyes open and bared her teeth. Crap. Wasn’t it bad
enough the man had been forced on her, opening a
floodgate of memories and regrets. Did he have to rob
her of valuable sleep as well? She shifted sideways to
punch her pillow again, then rolled onto her back to
consider. She wasn’t in the mood to read, or watch
screen entertainment, but a brandy might help to banish
Blane from her subconscious long enough for her to get a
few hours of sleep. Unfortunately, he was between her
and the auto-bar. She looked over at the door panel
connecting the rooms. Surely, if he’d gone thirty some
hours without rest, he’d be deeply asleep by now and she
could move like a shadow when she had to. Slipping out
of bed, she shrugged into a white toweling robe, tying
the sash to cover her pink camisole and shorts as she
moved toward the connecting panel.
The partition slid aside silently and Lex peered into
the darkened room. Her night vision showed her that
Huntress At Large
23
Blane was lying on the large, sofa bed on his stomach
with his arms stretched wide, his face turned away from
her.
She moved forward slowly on the balls of her feet,
pausing for a second before she glided left toward the
autobar. The controls were illuminated so it was easy to
read the menu. She found what she wanted and placed a
finger on a numbered key, jolting as steel bands gripped
her waist, trapping her and sweeping her off her feet. She
hit the floor with Blane’s large body pinning her.
“Lights,” she shouted.
When the room lit up, he pulled back his head and
stared
down
at
her
through
bleary
eyes.
“Lexy…sorry…sensory-self kicked in.”
It appeared he was still too zonked to be aware of
their body-to-body position while she was acutely aware
of his man-spice scent and the startling heat of his
well-exercised body pressing her into the carpet. She
didn’t want to think about the length of male flesh
pressing against her left thigh, which, even at rest and
inside his underwear, felt thick and heavy.
“Let me up.”
He blinked again and sprang to his feet, lifting a hand
to rub it distractedly over his face. “Sorry. I hope I didn’t
hurt you.”
Still catching her breath and gathering her
composure, Lex realized she was still standing too close
to him and stepped back to adjust her robe to cover
herself. “I’m fine,” she said. She knew she’d have
bruises in the morning. “I’m sorry I woke you. I should
know better than to try to sneak past you.”
His dark eyes were sharper now, but puzzled. “Did
Ali Atwood
24
you want to tell me something?”
She caught herself before she admitted she couldn’t
sleep. “I came to get a drink.”
“Uh, right.”
His gaze held hers and she prayed he couldn’t read
her mind. She could still feel the warmth of his skin
against her chest. She tried not to stare at his glorious
body, barely covered by a pair of short, black boxers that
appeared to be made of silk. Damn. That was more
information than she needed, or wanted.
“Right, so I’ll just get my drink, and let you get back
to sleep.”
As she turned to dial up again, her para-senses
registered that he was thinking about her body. Even
though she’d never been able to get a solid fix on his
thought patterns, she could pick out an odd strand
occasionally. If she felt some satisfaction that he wasn’t
completely immune to her as a woman, at the same time
she accepted it was an automatic response. Men
routinely, mentally undressed females. It didn’t mean
anything, it was just a male form of window-shopping.
A glass of brandy slid out of the slot and Lex blanked
her expression as she turned to face him again. Knowing
he’d been staring at her, she couldn’t resist a fleeting,
downward glance for evidence of an erection inside
those sexy boxers. He didn’t have one, but there was still
a remarkably large bulge resting behind the black silk.
She tore her gaze away and gave him a parting nod.
“Right. Then, I’ll see you at oh six hundred.” With
mingled feeling of disappointment and relief, she
stepped through the connecting panel and closed it
behind her.
Huntress At Large
25
Chapter Three
arly next morning, the Spaceport was bustling with
activity with groups of departing tourists lined up to
board one of the supersized Baylis shuttles while
arriving vacationers disembarked from an adjacent craft.
Lex was dressed casually, but businesslike, in a
long-sleeved, loose-fitting charcoal-colored bodysuit.
She’d secured her dark hair into a ponytail with curling
wisps already escaping from the smoothed style.
Blane looked impressive and austerely elegant in
black battle fatigues. Lex noted he hadn’t shaved this
morning, his jaw attractively darkened with a night’s
stubble. Probably getting into character, she decided.
Why did he always have to look so gorgeous and smell
so damn good?
The brandy last night had helped her sleep for a
couple of hours, then she’d risen at 0430 to shower and
dress quickly before Blane woke up, leaving him a note
to meet her in the lobby. She’d enjoyed breakfast on the
restaurant’s open-air terrace, meeting up with Blane at
0600. She’d greeted him with minimum of fuss as she
would any colleague once they were mission active.
Even if she couldn’t stamp out the ember of longing still
burning in a corner of her heart, this was a new day and
E
Ali Atwood
26
she was determined to hang tough so nothing he said or
did would faze her. He also seemed to be making an
effort to keep his distance, which suited her just fine,
since they both needed to concentrate on the mission.
Accordingly, she walked slightly behind him toward the
stationmaster’s office.
* * * *
With Lexy’s scent filling his nostrils, stirring unwanted
lust, Blane was having a difficult time concentrating on
the flight ahead and the weapons they would need to slip
into the Dome. Generally, he never allowed anything,
especially sex, to sidetrack him when he was working.
But Lexy was different. And no matter how well-trained
and powerful she was in her own right, he still felt a need
to protect her, which meant he needed a clear mind going
into the dangerous mission for both their sakes.
Additionally, he was very conscious of that little girl in
the Dome who was facing a horrific fate. Fortunately,
discipline was a crucial part of who he was. He would
focus purely on the job—and analyze his feelings for
Lexine later.
* * * *
“I’ll wait out here,” she said when they reached the flight
ops office. Crossing to a row of chairs, she sat and
watched Blane through the admin-center’s large glass
window. Inside the office, the walls were covered with
data display units and security vidscreens. When the
station official, a man in his mid-fifties, saw Blane, he
Huntress At Large
27
hurried forward with obvious pleasure, shaking the
younger man’s hand vigorously. They spoke for several
minutes and laughed before they approached the service
desk where Blane swiped his palm over the security
reader, inputting information on the log-screen with a
stylus. Moments later, a flight plan microdisc slid out of
the slot and the scheduler followed Blane to the door,
beaming as they shook hands once more. “Have a safe
flight, Colonel Sebastian. It was an honor to meet you.”
Lex rose from her seat as Blane came forward to hand
her an access badge to the docks area, which she pinned
to the front of her bodysuit. “The official called you
Colonel Sebastian,” she said to break the silence,
figuring she could still maintain distance if she stuck to
small talk. “Were you in the military?” She knew he was,
of course, because she’d checked him out, but the files
had been short on details.
“I did my two-year military service in the Air Force,”
he told her. “Then, during the rim planets uprisings, my
unit was reactivated.”
Lex recalled seeing news clips of the fighting. The
three airborne regiments assigned to subdue the uprising
had suffered massive losses, the survivors now
considered iconic heroes, which explained the official’s
enthusiasm.
“Here we are,” he said.
Lex stopped and looked up, expecting to see an
ancient, refitted tub of a ship. Instead, she stared at a
shiny black Starcrest 5000. She couldn’t help but be
impressed.
The
two-seater
fighter
was
top-of-the-line—able to sprint through the star system at
a fraction of the time it would take a commercial shuttle.
Ali Atwood
28
“Did you win this flashy, little number with a
well-placed bet, or what?” It must have cost what she
might make in salary over the next five years, and she
did very well, financially.
“I inherited some money.” He moved to place his
forefinger on the red-lit window of the fighter’s security
porthole. “And I dabble in the Commodities market.”
“Huh, so you’re wealthy?”
“Moderately.”
“So why risk your life doing this if you don’t have
to?”
He shrugged. “I’m good at the job. I enjoy the
challenge and there’s satisfaction in catching a bad guy.”
He activated the cockpit’s twin hatches, which opened
upward with a soft whoosh while ladders slid out from
the fuselage to touch the ground.
Automatically, Blane reached out and caught her arm
as if to guide her up the stairs, but checked himself,
stepping back with a wry smile. “Sorry, I forgot that
Agility’s your middle name.”
Lex was annoyed to find herself breathless again. It
was ridiculous that he could incite a sensual response
with an ordinary touch. She assured herself her libido
would settle once they got to the Dome. Entering the
cockpit, she settled into the deep, comfortable seat while
Blane started his checklist. His fingers flew across the
console keys until the control board flashed into a
Kaleidoscope of lights.
“Starcrest Niner-Four-Zero,” the flight controller’s
voice crackled through the speaker, indicating that
departure clearance was in sixty seconds. “Have a good
flight, Colonel.”
Huntress At Large
29
Lex secured her safety harness and sat back to watch
the seconds tick off on the countdown unit. Below the
craft, automatic sprayers gushed water into the gulley,
ready to douse escaping flames.
Blane glanced over at Lex as he flipped the switch to
uncouple the dockside tethering-beam. “Here we go.”
Gripping the arms of her chair, ready to absorb
velocity pressure, she watched him push the helm slowly
forward to inject Etrian gas into the plasma propulsion
system. The powerful engines fired with a deafening
roar, massive horsepower catapulting the ship out
through the spaceport aperture into bright sunlight. The
sleek craft sped into orbit with a trail of blazing flames.
With an unobstructed outlook through the cockpit’s
wide window, Lex’s gaze darted between the panoramic
view and the control panel screen, which zeroed in on
the planets they passed. Compared to routine travel in
the crowded passenger sections of the commercial
shuttles, this was incredible. She vowed if she ever got
really rich, she would learn how to pilot her own ship.
“We should reach the jump point and switch to
superlight in roughly ten minutes,” he informed. “From
the other side of the corridor, the journey should take
around forty-five minutes.”
“Huh? So we could reach the Dome in less than an
hour.”
“Depending on air traffic.”
Lex sat back to enjoy the view, but because the
cockpit’s close confines created an intimate atmosphere,
she found herself stealing looks at Blane’s carved profile
while his gaze was on the control board. She mused at
how easily females must fall for him. Then she tortured
Ali Atwood
30
herself, imaging the kind of women he took to bed.
Picturing a petite, creamy skinned blonde with big blue
eyes and terrific breasts—
“We’re a hundred and fifty klicks away from the
jump point. Sit tight.”
Jerking her attention back, Lex looked outside, noting
there seemed to be less stars visible in this area. Hearing
the engines rev to a more powerful drone, she braced
herself, ready for G-force to push her back in her seat.
However, she barely felt the increased pressure as the
well-designed ship shot them through light-years of
space in milliseconds, the external scenery streaking by
in a black and white blur.
When they came out of light-speed, reentering
normal space, making their approach to the Dome, Blane
switched frequencies on his cockpit link. Immediately,
they picked up bridge conversation between pilots and
Dome controllers as they cleared air traffic for docking.
At the same time, Lex realized that with the rapid
sequence of events plus the fact that she’d been thinking
with her glands most of the time, she’d failed to ask the
questions she normally would going into a mission. All
she knew was what she had read in the dossier—that the
young victim’s parents had died in an air crash and the
couple who’d fostered the child for a year were in the
process of adopting her. The kidnapping had taken place
during a school field trip, and none of the minders had
seen the snatch.
In the normal way of things, Lex would have asked
the guardian for a piece of the child’s clothing so she
could track the little girl once they we’re inside the
Dome. Kat would have thought of that, of course, but
Huntress At Large
31
there wasn’t enough time to send Lex a garment.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m a bit late putting on my
business hat, but do you have any advance Intel, or are
you planning for us to wing it?”
In truth, many missions came down to improvisation
and fortune, and worked out well most of the time. In
this case, though, if they failed, they risked capture, or
death.
“I did acquire a detailed layout of the Dome as it was
constructed.”
“Lex looked up sharply. A layout, as in a blue print?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, hell, why didn’t you say so before? That’ll
definitely make our job easier. How did you come by the
plan?”
“It’s a long story.”
Meaning he did not intend to expose a valuable
informant. She was a competitor, after all. “Were you
able to plan routes in and out, to get the girl past the
guards?”
“Partly. There’s a couple of concealed passageways
that connect to the docking bay, but since we don’t know
the security team’s routine, there’s no way to know if
those pathways are regularly paroled.”
She nodded. “If the child’s being held in that area,
they’ll probably have cams at the very least, but it
sounds doable. What are the jobs your source organized
to get us into the backstage area?”
“That was more difficult than I thought. All the
restaurant and bar staff are droids, so my contact had to
go for entertainment. He got me a position as a casino
dealer and you’re booked into the Carousel Room as an
Ali Atwood
32
exotic dancer.”
Lex blinked twice. “Exotic dancer…as in me topless,
wrapping myself around a pole?”
He slid his gaze right. “It was the only position open
for a female. I figured with your agility, you wouldn’t
have any trouble with the moves.”
“Yeah, right.” She sat immobile for a moment. She
wasn’t shy about her body. But hell, she hadn’t expected
to strip for the mission. On the other hand, it was a small
price to pay to save a little girl from an unspeakable fate.
“And our fake names are Lance Trevain and Fifi
Magee.”
“Fifi?”
His teeth flashed. “I told my contact we needed the
fake IDs in a hurry and left him to choose names. With
luck, we won’t be in the Dome long enough for many
introductions.”
Staying with the erotic dancing scenario, Lex’s mind
filled with flashing pictures of her in a dimly lit room,
thumping with music, men clapping and cheering as she
gyrated her half-naked body around a narrow pole. She
wondered if Blane would peek, imagining his intense,
dark eyes stroking over her. Nah, he wouldn’t bother.
Huntress At Large
33
Chapter Four
s they neared the Dome, Blane reduced the ship’s
speed slightly and keyed in his flight number and
false, intergalactic ID. Moments later, an echoing,
techno voice came through the speaker, “Starcrest
Niner-Four-Zero, you are cleared for arrival. Please
proceed to the eastern tractor corridor. Do you copy,
over?”
“Roger that.”
“Your
docking
berth
is
Delta
Oscar
Eight-Three-Seven. Before you enter the Dome’s public
areas, you are advised to read the house rules carefully,
over.”
“Roger and out.”
As the list of rules appeared on the comp screen, Lex
scanned it and smiled. “Well, hot damn. We can wear
our weapons into the space station.” She glanced at him.
“Odd, though, when you think of the unsavory types the
Dome must attract.”
He slanted her a glance. “Those unsavory types will
be aware of the unwritten rule.”
“Which is…”
“Persistent troublemakers are taken to the Dome’s
waste disposal area and spaced.”
A
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34
She grimaced. “Figures…an outlaw space station
would dish out outlaw justice.”
A blue light flashed in front of the windscreen,
indicating the tractor umbilical beams had grabbed the
ship. Blane cut power and sat back in his seat as the
green-flashing ingress drew them in.
Lex craned her neck to study the huge bronze-colored
globe. There were no visible windows, but there were
plenty of protuberances, some of them obviously
surveillance cameras. Lex knew the Dome organizers
employed several reconnaissance satellites to monitor
the surrounding airspace, keeping them safe from the
security forces—namely the Global Alliance, who,
despite their best efforts, had failed to shut the outlaw
station down. As soon as an Alliance military cruiser
entered the protected area, the Dome overseers were
alerted, giving them plenty of time to fire off a decoy and
switch to stealth mode before they super lighted the
space station to another location.
“It’s strange to finally see it,” Lex murmured,
recalling how Kat had almost ended up in their
gladiatorial arena. She narrowed her gaze on the center
of the sphere. “Am I right in thinking that the ring of
outlets are blast doors?”
Following her line of sight, Blane whistled softly.
“Yeah, probably housing short-range hornet missiles.
They’re quick bastards. A direct hit would reduce us to
cosmic scrap.”
Lex blew out a breath. “That adds complexity. Let’s
hope we don’t have to fight our way out of here.”
A few seconds later, the ship was guided through the
large green flashing opening. As the doors closed behind
Huntress At Large
35
it, the airlock pressurized and conveyer machinery
maneuvered the spacecraft into the docking bay.
Immediately, two cylindrical airborne robots took over,
tethering themselves to the front and rear of the
spacecraft to guide the ship through the vast, multilevel
docking bay. As they moved upward toward their
assigned berth, they passed a varied collection of
spacecraft,
which
included
everything
from
wide-bodied, tourist shuttles to private, streamlined
ships like Blane’s.
Once the ship was moored, it only took a few minutes
for Blane to shut down the onboard systems. As he
unhooked his harness and reached behind his seat for his
duffel bag, Lex shifted across her seat to pick up her bag.
When she looked back at him, he was studying her
thoughtfully, taking in her serviceable, dark gray outfit,
as if he’d only just noticed what she was wearing.
“I think you’d better change into something more
appropriate.”
Ever sensitive to his opinion of her, it was easy to
imagine she heard criticism in his statement, as if her
outfit made her look mannish and unappealing. “Well,
darn it,” she said, widening her eyes as she clicked her
fingers. “Where’s my head at. I clear forgot to pack my
pole dancing kit.”
* * * *
He smiled. “Cute. Wear what you had on yesterday. That
was—” He caught himself before he said, sexy— “very
nice on you.”
Watching her eyes flare slightly, he glanced away in
Ali Atwood
36
case she could read his thoughts. “You can change back
there.” He indicated to the area behind cockpit seats.
“There’s room to stand upright and a small bathroom.”
“Right, thanks.”
She moved toward it and he hesitated, figuring she
would probably change in the bathroom and he could
switch clothes out here. However, when she bent over to
unzip her bag and his gaze rested on her backside, his
sex twitched and he decided, “I’ll wait outside till you’re
done.”
* * * *
Lex quickly unfastened her bodysuit and pulled on her
multicolored two piece. He was going to say, you looked
sexy, her vixen told her. Stop it. The slightest hint of
attention from him and you dissolve into a pathetic
puddle. Have some pride.
She slipped into a pair of full-size, nude-colored
panties, reinforced to sheathe her small knives. With her
preternatural speed, in huntress space, she could literally
throw knives as fast as bullets. Finally, once she secured
her small blaster inside her left boot, she was ready for
action.
Blane glanced at her when she stepped outside, but
didn’t remark on her appearance, merely offering a
quick nod as he moved past her to re-enter the craft and
change his clothes.
Lex walked a few paces away from the ship,
examining the surroundings. There was a large tourist
shuttle berthed to the right of Blane’s ship, which would
give them cover if and when they returned with the child.
Huntress At Large
37
There was also a staircase a few feet away leading to the
upper floors. She focused her super senses, hoping to get
lucky. Children radiated a different kind of body heat
from adults. Unfortunately, she couldn’t pick up
anything. And, of course, her powers were limited by
distance.
Hearing Blane coming out of the ship, she turned and
caught herself before her mouth dropped. She’d never
seen him with his hair unbraided. The bright
illumination in the docking area highlighted the thick,
blond strands that reached below his shoulders. He was
wearing a pink netted tank top that showed his muscled
torso and his thatch of tawny chest hair. Tight black
pants clung to his lower body like a second skin and his
long legs disappeared inside knee-high sparkly black
boots.
He topped off the ensemble with a short-fitted black
leather jacket that emphasized his wide torso and lean
waist. Lex knew the jacket would contain sheaths in the
lining to hide his weapons. While the outfit was
completely out of character for Blane’s straight-arrow
nature, it was perfect for his role as a trendy hunk. Any
red-blooded woman looking at him would see
sex-on-a-stick.
Give me strength, she thought, not daring to glance at
his crotch area as she bent to pick up her duffel bag.
“You’d better let me carry that.”
She glanced up and snorted. “I can bench press my
own weight of a hundred and forty pounds.”
“I don’t doubt it, but at present, you’re pretending to
be a soft-bodied female.” He held out his hand. “Give me
the bag.”
Ali Atwood
38
She puffed a strand of hair away from her face and
shoved the bag at him, wondering again if his disinterest
was related to her statuesque frame and physical power,
making her appear asexual in his eyes.
“Better let me do the talking,” he said as they
approached the elevator where two male droids stood,
both dressed in dark blue uniforms. Obviously, the
robots had been created to look like military types with
strong, clean-shaven features. The older looking one
nodded politely to the humans. “Good evening, Sir and
Ma’am, how may we assist you?”
* * * *
“We’re new employees,” Blane replied. “Can you point
us in the right direction?”
“Certainly, take the elevator to level three and speak
to the gatekeeper stationed there.”
As the elevator doors closed, Blane remarked, “Once
they show us to our quarters, assuming we don’t have to
go to work right away, we should make a quick search in
the backstage area. We could get lucky and find the child
right off.”
With his earlier words echoing in her head, making
her feel like an unfeminine clod, her nasty self replied,
“Search for the child right off. Now, why didn’t I think
of that?”
Her brain failed to register the candor in his gaze as
he responded, “I didn’t mean to imply—”
“Look, Hot-shot, let’s get this straight. I’m not some
greenhorn you picked up along the way. I intend to play
a full role in this venture, regardless of what you may
Huntress At Large
39
think of me and hard-bodied female tracers.”
“Whoa, you have no idea what I think of you—”
A bell chime cut him off as the elevator door glided
open at the Glory Dome’s gaudy main entrance.
The area was swarming with people. The air was
thrumming with buzzing conversation and bursts of
laughter as patrons walked along the various corridors
that led to the entertainment areas. The Dome attracted a
variety of sinners looking to gamble, view blood sport,
or get laid. Most did all three.
By tacit agreement, Lex and Blane shelved their hot
blood. Neither of them could afford to lose concentration
when so much was at stake. After a quick scan of the
area, Lex murmured, “The guards up here are all
human.”
“Yeah,” he whispered back, “my source missed that.”
They both turned to look at the sentry dressed in a
green uniform who came forward to receive them. Lex
watched Blane slump slightly. With his height and
breadth, it wasn’t easy for him to look harmless, but he
clicked into his role as a Brainless stud, giving the
well-built guard a broad, winning smile. “Hey, man, how
it’s going? Amazing place you’ve got here. We’re both
supposed to start new jobs this evening. I’m Lance and
this here is Fifi.”
Lex plastered a vacuous smile on her face while the
stone-faced doorman’s hard gaze measured them both.
“Let me see your cards.”
Blane flashed his smile again. “Sure, I’ve got them
right here.” Setting down his duffel bag, he made a
production of reaching into the pocket of his skin-tight
black pants to pull out the fake Interstellar ID cards.
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40
As he handed them over to the guard, Lex held her
breath, her casual stance shifting slightly, preparing her
warrior’s body for action as the sentry swiped the cards
through his palm unit to check validity. Apparently,
Blane’s forger was an artist. The guard nodded, turning
to point toward a door that read, Employees Only. “Go
through there, and follow the blue direction lights to
sector four. The coordinator’s office is clearly marked.”
Before they reached the office, a woman came
through a sliding panel wearing a long red flowing outfit.
She was large framed with the pale skin and white hair
that marked her as a being from the planet Kyastani. Her
large opaque green eyes were delineated by heavy black
eyeliner, making her look as hard as she doubtless was.
She spoke in in a deep, nasal voice, “The dancer’s spot’s
been assigned, but the casino position is still open.”
Lex silently swore. She needed employee status to
search. Playing her role, she looked pleadingly at the
Kyastani woman. “Please, isn’t there any job available?
I’ve come all this way and I really need the money.”
The Kyastani woman smiled thinly, as if she’d
planned on Lex’s reply. “Depends on how open-minded
you are. If you’re willing to do sexual employment,
Bodily Pleasures has a slot open in the voyeur pavilion.”
Lex stared in silence while she formulated that. “Is
that voyeur as in exhibitionism?”
The Kyastani nodded. “Yes, you’d be performing in
front of a live audience.”
Lex would do what it took for the mission, but having
sex with a stranger in front of a crowd of faceless people
had to give her pause.
Blane had fallen silent, as if he were waiting for Lex
Huntress At Large
41
to make the next move.
Meanwhile, the Kyastani switched her attention to
Blane, sizing him up. His shoulders stretched the
soft-skinned black jacket that skimmed his waist,
exposing the hard abdomen rippling beneath his short,
pink mesh undershirt. No one could deny the humans
made an attractive couple. “If you partner her,” the
Kyastani said, “and it turns out you’re watchable, you’ll
make a lot more money than you will working in the
casino.”
* * * *
“I think we’ll pass,” Blane said, “but I’ll still take the
gaming position.”
The Kyastani didn’t look pleased to be losing them as
a couple. Blaine figured she probably received
commission when she recruited for the voyeur pavilion.
“Suit yourself,” she said. “Mel’s the one you need to
speak to in the casino.” She pointed in that direction,
turning to retrace her steps.
“Wait! We’ll do the voyeur thing.”
The Kyastani stopped dead, turning her head to look
at Lex, then at Blane for confirmation.
Taking note of the warning glint in Lex’s eyes, he
nodded. “Yeah, sure, lady’s choice.”
As the Kyastani strode off down a corridor, obviously
expecting the humans to follow her, in a corner of
Blane’s mind the selfish bastard was rejoicing that he’d
get to taste Lex at last, but as an innocent bystander, so to
speak. At the same time, his noble self forced him to say,
“Tell her you’ve changed your mind, Lex. You don’t
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42
have to do this.”
“Shh! How else can I search the female areas?”
“What happens if we can’t find the target before they
expect us to perform?”
“You didn’t see anything wrong with me showing my
tits to a roomful of strangers, so I guess you’ll have to
deal with displaying your dick.”
“God damn it,” he hissed. “I’m not worried about—”
He broke off when their escort halted and a panel slid
open into a room with a row of chairs placed against the
wall.
Leading them inside, their handler explained,
“Someone will collect you from here and escort you to
the employee dorms. You can eat and rest, but be ready
to go on at twenty-one hundred hours.” She walked out
leaving them staring at each other.
Blane emphasized once more, “You don’t have to do
this, Lex. You can tell them you’ll take a shuttle home in
the morning if they’ll let you stay overnight. That way, I
can search for the girl and you can join me when I find
her.”
* * * *
Lex stared at him with the mortifying thought that he
was saying all this because he might be worried he
wouldn’t be able to get a hard-on with her, even when
she was naked. “Look, I know I don’t appeal to you, but
we still have four hours until we have to appear in the
voyeur place. With luck, we’ll find the child and be off
the station by then. And you won’t have to touch me.”
He inhaled. “Lex you don’t lack appeal. You’ve
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43
never lacked sex appeal.”
Already visualizing herself running toward the
spacecraft with the little girl in her arms, she paused to
absorb his statement, which sounded like a pity
compliment to her. “Thanks, but I don’t need false
flattery. Let’s get on with purpose—”
“No, this needs to be said. It’s important you know
that what happened between us never had anything to do
with your feminine allure. It was circumstances. I was
there to protect you, not bed you”
Circumstances, and there was the rub, she thought.
Why hadn’t he gotten in touch once the circumstances
had corrected themselves? Pride would never allow her
to ask that question. “All right, thank you, but if you
don’t want to appear naked in a few hours, I suggest we
get to work.”
He hesitated, as if he would say more, then nodded,
pulling his hand-held processer out of a jacket pocket to
get down to business. He extended the comp screen
image into holo mode to accommodate a blueprint
drawing. “This is the western end of the station.” He
moved his finger over the drawing to outline the section
in red. “It’s far away from the public zones, but close to
the owner’s quarters. According to my informant, a
Dome agent will carefully select the buyers so there are
no repercussions for the Dome owners. There’s a
specially equipped room in this area where buyers or
their agents can view the child and bid for her. I’m
thinking they might be holding the little girl in that same
section until the day of the sale.”
Lex nodded. “Okay, like you said, once they take us
to the dorms, we’ll make some furtive explorations.
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44
Let’s hope the guards don’t patrol the off-stage access
strips too regularly.”
“The fact that the Dome organizers stuck with human
guards could work in our favor,” he added. “Humans can
be tricked and misled, whereas top-quality military
droids are never deceived.”
“Good point, so how do we get to the western
section?”
“Through the kitchen’s storage area, which happens
to be next to the employee’s dining hall.” He lifted his
tawny brows. “Feel like a snack?”
An hour later, fully armed and ready for action, Lex
and Blane met up again in the large noisy staff dining
hall with crowds of people lined up at the various food
counters waiting to be served by droid chefs. Blane
purchased two simulated coffees from a coin-operated
machine and carried the cups to a small table near the
kitchens. Lex sat next to him so they both faced the
room.
They sipped bad coffee in silence until a group of
people moved in front of their table, blocking them from
view.
Rising quickly, they moved toward a doorway
marked Produce. Passing shelves laden with packets of
freeze-dried fruit and vegetables, they exited through the
back panel into a dimly lit winding corridor, about ten
feet wide
Lex almost jolted when Blane put an arm around her
waist and bent to brush his mouth across her cheek.
“Better play at being lovers,” he murmured. “In case
there’re cams and listening devices along here.”
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45
She nodded, her heartbeat racing a little as she slid
her arm around his waist, her hand brushing over the
metallic stock of his blaster. Since she’d memorized the
blueprint, she knew the room they were looking for must
be close. She focused her hyper-senses for child life
forms with ears pricked for cam vibrations. It occurred to
her that the reason she couldn’t get a fix on the victim’s
life form might have something to do with Blane’s
nearness, messing with her senses and throwing her
tracking mode off balance.
When they reached the room they were looking for,
Lex pulled a square code-breaker out of her pocket and
Blane pulled out a device half the size of hers
“Huh? That’s small,” she whispered.
“New generation. My family owns a company that
makes chips for these systems so I know how to disarm
them.”
“That’s handy.” She knew so little about his
background, and she was curious. “Why didn’t you go to
work for them?”
“Too confining, but I do fiddle around in the technical
side of things.” He was in fact, a strong factor in the
company’s success. Now, he made a few quick
adjustments and the panel slid open.
Lex was impressed. Her devices were first rate, but
they couldn’t bypass a code that fast.
When they stepped inside the darkened room, Blane
touched the lighting button, and overhead spots flooded
the large, circular room. What the blueprint hadn’t
shown were the alcoves around the edges of the room.
Lex could see each cubicle was fitted with a
communication center and large padded the seats, so the
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46
buyers, she thought, or their bastard agents, could bid for
underage sex slaves comfortably hidden behind privacy
screens. She noted the access stairs in each cubicle. “Do
you think those stairs lead to private suites?”
“Yeah, probably—nothing but the best for the
perverts.”
“Well, they’re not going to get this child, damn it.”
He looked into her flashing eyes and nodded. “No
they’re not, and she might be hidden is one of those
rooms.”
“Seems likely.”
Before they could move to the first set of stairs to start
their search, Lex’s keen ears picked up the soft click and
whir from a motion-detecting camera hidden somewhere
in the room. “They’ve spotted us.”
She was unprepared when Blane gripped her upper
arms and pushed her body up against the wall, the weight
of his long, hard frame engulfing her as his mouth fused
to hers. It wasn’t a light, pretend meeting of the lips, but
a heavy kiss, bruising slightly as he slanted his head, his
tongue and taste penetrating deep. She told herself he
was making it look good for the cameras even as the
arousing taste of him filled her with edgy need.
Wrapping her arms around him, she pushed her breasts
against his hard chest, stroking his tongue with her own.
The primordial female in her purred with pleasure as it
commanded her to pull him closer and tighter. She didn’t
know if he was aroused, since his hips were angled away
from her, but her breath grew shallow as her vagina
flared and clenched with need—
“Hey! You two, how’d you get in here? This area’s
out of bounds for non-security employees.”
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47
Pushing Blane away, Lex tried to look vacant as an
angry-faced guard hurried toward them.
Blane put up an apologetic hand. “Sorry, man. We’re
new here. We didn’t know we were out of bounds. We
were just looking for some privacy. And the door was
open.” He gave the guard his winning smile and a wink.
The guard grunted. “Staff ain’t entitled to privacy.”
He waved them away. “Go fuck in the unisex dorms, like
everyone else.”
Blane slipped an arm around Lex’s waist, still playing
his role. “Come on, sweetheart. I’m sure we can find a
secluded spot.”
As they walked away after that wildly exciting kiss,
Lex could’ve sworn the floor shifted under her feet. She
looked everywhere but at Blane’s face, aware her own
face was still flushed from arousal.
* * * *
Blane was working to level his breathing, willing his
erection to fade. He could still taste her on his tongue,
feel her breasts sliding against his chest.
“What now,” she asked.
He darted her a quick glance, refocusing his thoughts.
“I think we should gamble that the child is in one of
those suites, and make a run for her once we block their
cams.”
“Agreed. I imagine you have a super-duper jammer
for that.”
He managed a smile. “Yeah, it’s experimental, and
I’ll need a little time to program it for this system.”
“Experimental?”
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48
“Don’t worry, it works. Instead of the static blackout
you get with normal devices, my model freezes the last
image on screen. That way it looks more like a
malfunction than outside inference, which buys us
time.”
“Right, so I’ll go back to the female dorm to put in an
appearance and meet up with you again, in what…an
hour?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that should be enough time to tune
the equipment.” And take a cold shower.
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49
Chapter Five
revain! Magee! Where the hell have you been?”
Lex and Blane turned to see the Kyastani
woman at the other end of the corridor, beckoning them.
“Quickly,” she shouted. “The idiots ahead of you have
been smoking Tazine root. They’re both smashed and
it’s a full house in there. We need all the beds filled.”
Lex and Blane’s gazes connected for several
uncomfortable seconds.
“We can’t refuse,” she whispered. “She’ll tell us to
leave.”
He nodded. “Yeah, no choice.”
As they turned to follow their handler, Lex’s heart
began to race. It hadn’t occurred to her that performing
meant appearing alongside other couples in an arena
situation with a large audience. For some reason, she’d
visualized beds in cubicles behind glass with the
audience passing in front of them.
“In here,” the Kyastani said, running her hand over a
security doorplate to show the couple into a dressing
room with two rails of garments. One held different
styles of male trousers. The second rail was filled with a
variety of colorful female costumes, arranged by size.
“Strip and find yourselves outfits. You should both wear
“T
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50
the same color. We have new gold outfits. And if you
like, you can cover your faces with masks. You’ll find a
selection in there.” She pointed to a small chest of
drawers. “When you’re ready, you go through there.”
She indicated a metal panel behind the rails. “The voyeur
matron will show you where you’ll be performing.”
“How long,” Blane asked, “are we required to…uh,
entertain?”
The Kyastani turned to give him a flirtatious look, her
toothy smile showing her long canines. “A young tasty
like you shouldn’t have any trouble drumming up
cockstands. We expect you to remain in the arena for at
least an hour. Positions are up to you. But don’t be
boring—” The datapad in her hand bleeped. She looked
down, tapped the screen, then looked at Lex. “And you,
make sure the audience gets a good look at your tits and
pussy before you lie on the bed.” With that, she left
closing the door behind her.
Lex stared at the closed door and blew out a pent up
breath. If she wore a mask, she’d be completely
anonymous. This would definitely make things easier,
because now she was thinking that even under these
strange circumstances, it would be nice, just once, to
have sex with someone who really excited her. On the
other hand, practicality told her she was heading for deep
trouble if she did let herself go and tried to enjoy this
situation.
She wondered what Blane was thinking. Glancing
over her shoulder, she saw that he’d moved behind a rail.
Quickly, she moved forward and started flicking through
garments to find her size while she peeked through the
gap in the top of the rail. He’d already taken off his
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51
leather jacket and laid it over the back of a nearby chair,
mindful, obviously, of the weapons hidden inside. He
then turned his back to strip, as if to give her a pretense
of privacy, which amused her, considering what they
were about to do.
When he sat to remove his boots, she released the
strip fastener on her skirt and stepped out of her clothes
and her reinforced panties, folding her garments on top
of the panties and knives before she placed them in a
locker. Then she chose a gold vest and a pair of
diaphanous harem trousers with a gold thong. Thank
goodness the garments were new.
She sneaked another look at Blane. He’d pulled off
his pink top and hung it on a wall hook. Studying what
she could see of his wide back beneath his loosened hair,
she felt the first stirrings of sexual response, imagining
her hands running over that smooth expanse of golden
skin. She couldn’t see his lower bits through the rails so
she still didn’t know what his butt and penis looked like,
but she soon would.
When she walked around the rail a couple of seconds
later, he’d pulled on a pair of loose-fitting, pants, the
delicate, gold fabric a sharp contrast to his blatant
masculinity. She could see now that there was blond hair
mixed with the tawny dusting on his upper chest. And
his flat nipples were small and brown. Thinking about
licking them caused a warm flush to skim over her skin.
She was so busy looking at him, she hadn’t noticed
his gaze gliding over her body, taking in the
closely-fitted, gold vest that enhanced her slim waist.
Her breasts strained against the fabric as her soft flesh
rose and fell with her rapid breathing.
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52
His eyes seemed to reflect the heat she was feeling. It
was exciting to think he was finally seeing her as a
mature, sexy woman. But whether he was or not, his
naked flesh would soon be meeting hers. And she
wouldn’t hold back, she decided. She would enjoy every
minute of the pleasure and pretend for a while that he
was everything she wanted him to be.
“I think,” she said, “it might best if we both know
where we stand with each other, now that sex has
become part of the mission.” She hated to see the
guarded look that came into his eyes. She added quickly,
“You don’t have to worry that I’ll make a fool of myself
again, Blane. I’m realistic, if nothing else.”
He let out a huff of breath. “Lexy, you never made
a—”
“Don’t talk, listen. We’ll keep it simple, straight
pleasure with no illusions, or complications. Deal?”
His nodded slowly. “Deal.”
A few moments later, when the entrance to the voyeur
pavilion glided open, Lex and Blane were wearing gold
masks that covered the top half of their faces. For some
reason, Lex had expected bright lights, but the arena was
bathed in a soft pink glow and the audience, who sat in
darkness, couldn’t be seen. There was low-key,
background music with a slight drumbeat and the air was
warm and moist. Hidden fragrance dispensers misted
over the scent of sweat and sex. Lex could feel the
audience’s curious stares and anticipation at sight of a
new couple.
A tall hefty woman dressed in a white one-piece outfit
came forward. She had a long-boned face and sternly
styled black hair. “About time you two got here. I’m
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53
Matron Tewksbury. Your bed’s over there.”
Lex looked where the woman pointed and saw a large
elevated bed covered with white sheets.
“Everything’s kept clean in here,” the matron said, as
if in answer to Lex’s mental question. “The bedding’s
changed after every performance so you won’t catch
anything.”
She folded her arms in front of her substantial breasts.
“Now, the first rule for you both to remember is, you do
not leave the arena without permission. If you do, you’ll
forfeit your earnings. As far as performance goes, that’s
up to you. I will say the crowds like to see some
domination foreplay and there are a variety of sex toys in
the chest next to the bed.” She looked at Blane. “Also,
there’s a bottle of fast-acting performance enhancing
pills, in case you feel the need.” With that, she flicked a
hand to indicate they should get on with it.
Glancing around, Lex saw five other beds, all
occupied. She counted three other couples and two
ménage groupings, all in the throes. As her keen ears
picked up their harsh panting breaths, she eyed a bare
male butt that was facing her, moving back and forth so
rapidly it resembled a white blur. She jumped when
Blane placed a hand low on her back.
“It’s a bit late to ask,” he leaned in to whisper. “But
you’re not a virgin, are you?”
“What? No!” Her cheeks flushed with resentment and
humiliation. How freaking unsexy did he think she was
to imagine she’d reached the age of twenty-five and
never done it with anyone?
“Just checking,” he said, leaning in to kiss the top of
her head.
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“Let’s see her tits,” someone shouted from the
audience.
Glancing toward the darkened area where the
audience sat, Blane moved closer to Lex, his big hands
gliding over her curves before he started to unbutton her
gold bodice.
She stood still as he pushed the shoulders of her
costume down until her breasts spilled out, her breathing
turning choppy when his gaze dropped to stare at her
pale, soft flesh.
“Very nice,” he said while the audience clapped.
“Tell me what you like,” he whispered.
She inhaled. With you doing it… “Anything…
everything.”
With her face hidden, she decided it was strangely
exciting to have people watching while the pads of his
thumbs stroked around her areolas, her nipples leaping
to attention, changing from pink to crimson as they
turned diamond hard.
“Such lovely big nipples.” He flicked a distended
peak with his forefinger. His deep voice dipping to a
husky purr, “Would you like me to suck them till you
come?”
Oh God, when he sprang into action, he didn’t miss a
trick.
He bent to nuzzle her breasts and lick between them
and she arched, closing her eyes. His wet tongue stroked
over a peak. Her breathing turned shallow and rapid.
When he tugged and scraped with his teeth, the erotic
sensation shot from her breasts to her pubis, making her
sex moisten and swell.
She hoped he was getting as aroused as she was and
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55
glanced down to see a partial erection behind his gold
trousers while his hand stroked down her navel. The tips
of his long fingers teased the top edge of her harem
pants. Her muscles leapt reflexively and her pussy
lubricated heavily, anticipating the touch of his hand.
He withheld it, pushing her pants down over her hips
to caress the curve of her bottom and the backs of her
legs. When the pants dropped to the floor and she was
left in the gold thong, someone in the audience made a
low sound of approval.
Lex didn’t realize Blane had moved her slowly back
toward the bed until the backs of her thighs came up
against the mattress. Her eyes were half closed. She was
about to pull him down on top of her, when he suggested,
“Why don’t you lie down on your stomach and
I’ll…give you a few spanks to start things off.”
She blinked. She’d been lost in what they were doing
while his mind had clearly stayed on the fact that they
were here to entertain. It made her feel resentful again
that he wasn’t feeling as she was. His words and caresses
were simply part of the performance.
She shook her head in refusal. “No, too ordinary,
better you lie down and I’ll play dominatrix.”
His dark eyes narrowed through the holes in his gold
mask. Apparently, he didn’t warm to that idea. Truth be
told, she had never felt the need to dominate men. She
liked them as strong and demanding as she was. Right
now, though, she felt like taking charge. In fact, she felt
like belting him for his lack of feeling. “Get on the bed,
face down,” she said aloud, drawing another quick burst
of applause from the audience. She strode around to the
bedside table to pick up a soft black whip from the pile
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of accoutrements.
Blane didn’t look too happy, but he complied,
moving to the bed to lie submissively on his belly, which
gave Lex a sense of satisfaction as she walked around to
the end of the bed and flicked the velvet cat-o’-nine-tails
against her hand to test it. Murmurs of encouragement
came from the crowd.
“You’ve been a bad, bad boy,” she cried. “And this is
what you get.” Her bare breasts bounced as she swished
the whip out over Blane’s long back. When his muscles
bunched under his golden skin, she lashed the taut curve
of his buttocks beneath his gold pants.
His body jerked, probably more from surprise than
pain. The watchers applauded.
This was fun, she thought. With one quick move, she
moved forward and jerked Blane’s trousers down,
bringing the whip down harder on his naked butt. She
whipped him again, three, four times, receiving bursts of
cheers from the audience. In response, she raised the
whip in the air and twirled it around her head as a bubble
of laughter rose in her throat. Never in her wildest
dreams could she have imagined this scenario.
“Get on with it,” Blane murmured, letting her know
he wasn’t enjoying the charade.
Lex wasn’t sure if she was discovering a new aspect
of her sexual character, or she was just taking pleasure in
the pretense of punishing him for not caring. Either way,
she didn’t want to give up control just yet.
“Stay right where you are,” she told him. Moving to
kneel on the bed, she straddled him, hearing his indrawn
breath when she rubbed the damp crotch of her thong up
and down his taut butt.
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Now, she thought, she could do everything to him
that had been denied her for so long. It was almost as if
fate had granted her wish. She smoothed her palms over
the curves of his wide back, fascinated by the contrast of
the hard muscles beneath his smooth skin. No other man
she’d bedded had skin as nice as his. She leaned down
and rubbed her cheek against his warm flesh, then
stroked a hand over his blond hair before she pushed it
aside to kiss and lick the nape of his neck. Her special
senses meant her taste buds were acute and his essence
was ambrosia. She couldn’t get enough, moving her lips
and tongue across his shoulder. When she kissed her way
back to his neck, she finally got to lick that fascinating
gold arrow swinging from his right ear. Then she
fastened her teeth onto his earlobe and bit down gently.
When he groaned in response, she pushed the tip of her
wet tongue into the shell of his ear and heard his
breathing increase. She whispered in his ear, “How’s
Mr. Dick doing, or should I call him Mr. Lance? Is he
ready for some action?”
Blane made a grunting sound and inhaled when she
shifted and slid her hands between his thighs to touch his
hardened penis. “Mmm, mmm. That feels ready to go.
Now, which would Mr. Lance prefer, a blowjob, or some
thrusting?” Before he could respond, she moved off him
and gave him a hard slap across his butt that sounded
liked gunshot.
He rolled over onto his back to face her with warning
in his dark eyes, indicating that he wasn’t enjoying her
game, though his body didn’t seem to mind, since his
erection was straining upward above the waistband of
his lowered trousers. He kicked them off.
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Lex moved in to examine the penis she’d thought
about so much. It was as long and thick as she’d
imagined, rising from a tawny pubic bush. The plumy
head was a deep vermillion color. She stroked the satiny
hardness from tip to base, pleased to hear his breathing
deepen as he pulsed beneath her fingers. “Do you like
blowjobs?”
He blinked. “What guy doesn’t?”
She gave him a feline smile. “Well, you are rather
straight-laced, Mr. Sebastian.”
Apparently ready to play now, he gave her a slow
smile in return. “Am I?”
“Get on with it,” someone yelled from the crowd.
“Suck his cock.”
Lex darted a glance in the direction where the shouted
demand had come from. Looking back at Blane, she
widened her eyes. “It seems I have my orders. I hope you
like my technique.”
* * * *
Pushing a pillow under his head, Blane lay back,
drawing a deep breath as she caught his turgid shaft and
pulled it toward her. He was throbbing with need now
and surprised that she seemed to be getting a kick out of
this exhibitionist stuff. He shifted as she pushed his
thighs apart and dipped to nuzzle the curls at the base of
his sex, pressing a wet kiss to his inner thigh, then
nipping. When she started to lick and suck his balls, he
let out a guttural moan against the surge of pleasure. At
the same time he sensed movement in the crowd, as
though they were craning their necks to get a better view.
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Lex started to lick her way up his erection while he
looked down at her face. She seemed to be taking
pleasure in the act, which increased his enjoyment
immensely. Who would have thought that little Lexy
would turn out to be so passionate? Or so talented, he
added as she went to work on to his hypersensitive
cockhead. Her clever tongue found every ridge and
crevice, paying special attention to the underside of his
penis. Finally, she sealed her lips over its gleaming head
and drew on him slowly and rhythmically. Blane felt
himself enlarging even more against her soft lips,
drawing in a deep restraining breath so he wouldn’t
climax.
* * * *
She loved the taste of him. He felt as smooth as polished
marble in her mouth. Though he was too sizeable for her
to take all of him, she wanted to give him her best, if only
to show him she’d practiced and knew how to please a
man. She squeezed him with her mouth as she drew him
deeper and he groaned appreciatively. She shifted to take
his thickness as deep as she could until he butted against
the back of her throat. All the while, she kept one finger
moving behind his testicles to caress a receptive spot.
The combined stimulus caused his breathing to quicken
to ragged surges, his hands coming to her shoulders, as if
to hold her in place while she moved faster on him.
“God, Lexy.” He pulled out of her mouth. “That’s
enough, or the show will end now.”
Before she could respond, he caught her waist and
lifted her so she straddled his waist. “Time for
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cunnilingus.”
He didn’t have to ask twice—the words alone were
enough to heat her skin and quicken her breath to fast
surges as she shifted her loins toward his lips. He caught
her thighs to hold her open to his gaze, obviously
studying the details of her sex, which made her juices
flow faster. Finally, when his hot mouth covered her
vulva, her favorite fantasy was in progress. The scrape of
his male stubble against her inner thighs increased the
pleasure as she gazed down at his gleaming blond hair,
watching the movement of his mouth and tongue as he
started to suck her juices and lap at her clitoris.
It’s Blane Sebastian doing this to me. Freshly thrilled
by the thought, she strained toward him as he slid a
finger through her clenching opening, moving it back
and forth while he twirled the tip of his tongue over her
aching bud. When he pushed his tongue into her
throbbing channel, the indescribable pleasure made her
eyes roll back in her head. “Oh God. Oh, yeaaah!”
Mindless rapture raced along her nerve endings,
shattering outward as a hoarse cry escaped from her lips,
followed by a loud round of applause from the audience.
Lex barely had time to recover before Blane’s hands
grasped her waist and lifted her again. He set her directly
over his hips so she was astride his strong thighs with his
erection bobbing between their bodies. He must be
desperate for release, she was thinking. She’d always
enjoyed being on top. Now, she would exercise her
power as a woman and give him the ride he deserved
after pleasing her so well.
Rising up onto her knees, she caught hold of his
weighty shaft and began to rub it up and down her shiny
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wet crevice. Blane’s gaze stayed fixed on their genitals
as she pleasured them both. Then she lifted and shifted
so his shaft was lodged just inside her opening.” Mmm,”
he murmured as a rush of her juices trickled out to coat
the tip of his cock.
A silent hum was coming from the audience, who
were clearly waiting for her to impale herself.
Blane ran his strong hands up and down her sides,
then massaged the globes of her bottom, as if to urge her
hips down. Lex was watching his face, excited by the
carnal heat in his eyes as she finally moved downward.
She gasped at the jolt of sensation as his thick penis
pushed into her channel, stretching her wide. Lost in the
moment, she almost jolted when another round of
applause erupted from the crowd mixed with cheers.
Part of this was funny, she was thinking, with the
voyeurs looking on. On the other hand, it was the most
erotic moment of her life, finally, to have Blane’s
sumptuous hardness inside her. Unfortunately, she was
so aroused once more, she figured it would only take a
few strokes before she reached orgasm again. Not that it
mattered. She doubted he could go long before he
climaxed. She watched his face as she rose and fell to see
which rhythm he preferred, pulling up and sliding down
until his crisp, pubic curls brushed against her bottom.
He stayed still, letting her set the pace, his eyes
glowing with dark desire as she started into a bouncing
rhythm. He reached out to pluck at her distended nipples
and finger her engorged clit. When she made small
circles with her pelvis, he tilted his hips so his cock
stayed deep. She restrained herself from saying, I knew
this would be incredible, because she didn’t want to look
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like a desperate fool again in his eyes.
She was close to peaking again, but she fought it,
wanting it to last. Using her internal muscles to squeeze
him on the upstroke and relax as she took him deep, she
heard his breath grow harsher.
Then his grip on her hips grew more demanding, and
he set his teeth. “I’m close…can’t hold it much longer.”
“Yes, go, go, please yourself.” My darling.
As his hot breath hit her skin more rapidly, her pubis
slammed down faster and faster over his powerful
length, giving him the action he needed while she felt
herself soaring upward. Her eyes were glazed as her
second orgasm hit. She threw her head back, releasing a
shrill cry. Ecstasy overflowed as she spasmed and
collapsed on top of Blane’s shuddering body, hearing a
sound like a collective moan from the crowd.
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Chapter Six
ometime later, Lex was in the women’s dormitory,
standing under the hot spray in the communal
showers. Even with the strange circumstances, the
lovemaking in the voyeur room had been as satisfying as
she’d fantasized, yet her practical self knew that nothing
was going to come of the encounter. While Blane had
obviously enjoyed the sex, men were easy in that
respect. Moreover, he’d started out treating the interlude
like a penance he had to perform. Without a doubt, when
she met up with him again to continue the search, he’d
be back to his normal, impassive self. “You’ll survive,”
she muttered to herself, wrapping a towel around her wet
body. “Stop being so self-centered. You’re here to save a
child.”
She walked back to her bunk area to put on fresh
clothes, her keen ears gradually tuning in to the
conversation going on between two females sitting on
their bunks three rows along from her. Both women
looked to be in their mid-thirties. One had short red hair
and the other had a trendy shaved head with piercings.
The redhead was saying in a low tone, “Well, my
partner, Gil, who works security, says the Dome bosses
are putting it about that none of the present gladiator
S
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candidates are captives. Not only are they getting paid to
fight, it’s not to the death anymore, just till first blood.”
“Huh? Do you think people will still pay to watch if
they don’t fight to the death? Not that I think it’s right
that they should, just saying the Dome’s bound to lose
money.”
“For sure, but Gil said the bosses are going to offer
gazillions of credits to anyone who will go all the way,
so they’re going to get some takers.”
The shaved head nodded. “If you want my take on it,
it’s just an outward show by the Dome to get the
Alliance off their backs. I know for a fact they still have
the gladiator cages behind the arena. And there’s still a
lot that goes on in this place that’s very bad.”
“Like what?”
The shaved head glanced in Lex’s direction and
lowered her voice to a whisper, “Like selling sex
slaves.”
The redhead didn’t look surprised. “Yeah, I always
figured a lot of the women in the bodily pleasures area
were drugged captives.”
“Worse than that. They’re selling underage girls and
boys.”
“Kids? God, that’s terrible…”
While the women talked, Lex had slipped on her
undies and a micro-thin flak vest, covering it with a
black bodysuit. Now, she sat on the bed pulling on her
black airstride-boots, wondering if she and Blane had
searched in the wrong zone for the child and the little girl
was being held in one of those gladiator cages. She
glanced at her timepiece. She had forty-five minutes
before the agreed meet up time. What if she could at
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least locate the child ahead of time… She wavered. Part
of her told her to wait for Blane, but part of her wanted to
impress him with her huntress skills and photographic
memory. She could visualize the blueprint and the
gladiator arena. She knew exactly where to go.
She made the decision on impulse. Reaching into her
bag for her small blaster, she secured it to her airstrides
and placed her code-breaker in her pocket. She put her
bag in her locker, then walked casually past the two
women, who were now talking about dieting.
Once Lex reached the stairwell panel she was looking
for, she glanced right and left, then ran down the stairs to
the lowest level, relying on her senses to direct her as she
took off down a winding passageway. Though she could
move at lightning speed in huntress space, the cams
could still see her, even if only as a blur. She prayed the
guards didn’t monitor this area too closely anymore. As
she neared the backstage arena area she heard shouting
and cheers. Evidently, there was a gladiator battle in
progress. She stilled her mind, fine-tuning her antennae
for a child’s body heat.
Nearing a bend, she felt a twinge and stopped dead,
turning her head from right to left to zero in on the life
form. Yes, it’s a little one. With anticipation rising, she
moved toward the aura, slowing her steps to a glide
when she saw a shaft of light coming from an open
doorway. Listening intensely, she stopped and peered
around the doorframe of an enormous room filled with
large mesh pens that ran from ceiling to floor. She
moved along the walkway between the cages and
stopped dead. Bingo!
A little figure huddled in a blanket was sitting on the
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floor in a cell at the far end of the room. Lex walked to
the enclosure and used her code-cracker to bypass the
lock. Fortunately, the complicated central alarm system
wasn’t armed. Obviously someone thought there was no
need, since the child couldn’t do anything to help
herself.
Entering the pen, Lex damned herself for a fool as she
realized she had forgotten to bring her communicator,
which was still in her locker and not here where she
could use it. She blamed her absent-mindedness on the
aftereffects of the sex, clouding her logic.
When Lex crouched down in front of the little girl,
the child didn’t move or speak. She had silvery blonde
hair framing a perfect little face, and there was shock in
her big blue eyes, or they could have drugged her. Lex
didn’t touch her, yet, just in case she’d cry out. It
annoyed her that the person who’d written the dossier
had omitted to mention the child’s name. “Hi, sweetie.”
My name’s Lexine. I’m here to take you home. Can you
tell me your name?”
The little girl continued to stare blankly.
Lex decided she couldn’t risk leaving the child alone
while she ran back to get Blane. It would be better to
carry the little one through the back passageway to the
docking bay and send Blane a trans from his craft’s
auxiliary link. “I’m here to take you home, sweetheart,”
she repeated. Remembering the child was in the process
of being adopted, added, “Your new mommy and daddy
are waiting for you.”
The child blinked. Her mouth began to tremble. “The
lady that brung me here says my new mommy doesn’t
want me anymore.”
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The large tears that trickled from the child’s big blue
eyes tore at Lex’s heart. “Well, she’s wrong. Your new
mommy sent me to get you because she loves you very
much. Can you tell me your name?”
The child sniffled, but sat up straighter, her eyes
looking brighter. “Rosie.”
Lex smiled. Children were so resilient. “Rosie, that’s
a lovely name.” She stroked a hand over the child’s soft
hair. “I’m going to pick you up now, Rosie, and carry
you. We may have to go fast, so you hold on tight and
stay as quiet as a mouse, okay?”
“‘Kay.”
As she turned toward the exit, Lex visualized the blue
print again, trying to picture the shortest way to the
docking bay.
“I knew you were trouble when I saw you.”
Freezing in place, Lex glanced up at an overhead
vidscreen to see the furious face of the Kyastani woman
glaring down at her. At the same time, three guards came
rushing through the doorway with weapons drawn.
“Put the kid down,” an older man with two stars on
his shoulders, ordered.
When Rosie started to cry, burying her face against
Lex’s neck, Lex stroked the child’s hair again,
whispering in her ear. “It’s all right, Rosie, hush. I’m
going to get you out of here and back to your mommy, I
promise. First, you have to be brave just a little bit
longer. I have to put you down for a while.”
It was heartbreaking to have to pull the trembling
child’s hands away from her neck and place her on the
bed while the little girl sucked in bubbling sobs.
Though she was feeling murderous, Lex forced an
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open expression as she turned to face the guards. “Look,
fellas, you must know they plan to sell this child. Let me
leave with her before you supervisor gets here.”
She knew there wasn’t a hope in hell that would
happen. She was playing for time while she pushed her
mind deeper into the area where some special molecules
resided.
“Sorry to disappoint,” the leader sneered. But we’re
the well-paid bad guys.” He was pointing a weapons
detector at her. “Take that blaster out of your boot,
carefully, and slide it over here.”
Lex held up her hands in a gesture of peace and did as
she was told.
“Now, get into that pen across the way.”
As she backed toward the cage, she felt the tale-tell
tingle of heat in the nape of her neck as a pulsing force
traveled through her system spurring it into hyper-speed.
She jumped, sending her body into a rapid rotation, the
blur of motion knocking the guard’s stunner from his
hand as he staggered backward. She kicked out with both
legs and the guard went down like a bowling ball, hitting
his head on the stone floor.
Seeing the other guards leveling their weapons, she
leapt to the top of the cage as they fired their stunners.
Then she somersaulted outward, exploding with a
barrage of kicks that disarmed them, following up with
punches and hand-chops and a final leaping attack that
sent them both flying through air, their bodies ending up
in a tangle at the other end of the room.
Lex turned for Rosie and froze. The Kyastani woman
was holding a razor-sharp blade to the child’s throat.
Poor little Rosie was looking hopefully at Lex, but there
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was nothing she could do. Even in huntress mode, there
was no way she could disarm the Kyastani before the
woman cut Rosie. Lex’s intuits told her the woman
wouldn’t hesitate to kill the child if necessary. She raised
her hands in surrender again. “What do you want me to
do?”
“Get into the damn cage and hurry up. If I didn’t need
information, I’d kill you now.”
Backing into the proton enclosure, Lex watched the
woman drag Rosie with her to the control panel.
The chain-link door slid closed and Lex heard the low
humming sound as the cage was activated. She knew
there was no way to break out. If she got within two feet
of the wire, the neuron currents would immobilize her
muscles.
The Kyastani looked relieved as she led Rosie back
into the adjacent enclosure and made her sit on the bunk
bed. The little girl was still looking through the wire
expectantly at Lex whose hands were fisted at her sides.
Lex wanted to scream at her stupidly as she watched the
Kyastani pull a hypodermic out of her pocket, flip the
cap off, and inject Rosie. In moments, the little girl
lapsed into unconsciousness.
At the same time, the door at the left end of the
corridor opened and several more guards rushed through
with weapons at the ready. There was a rumble of
startled murmurs when the men took in the damage Lex
had done to their comrades. As the unconscious guards
were carried away, a guard with gold insignia on his
uniform came forward to give Lex a hard look through
the wire cage. “What do you want me to do with the
cunt?” he said over his shoulder to the Kyastani. “Send
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her to the secure brothel area?”
Shutting Rosie’s cage, the Kyastani came to stand
next to the guard, her fleshy lips stretching into a smile
while her strange, green eyes remained icy cold. “No,
it’s the end for Fifi. We’ll space her along with her
partner, Lance Trevain. Pull up his image from the entry
cam and send out a station-wide alert. Once you have
him, let me know. I’ll supervise proceedings.” She
looked back at Lex with a dark gleam in her eyes. “Once
I dose you with Versamin you’ll tell us who sent you for
the kid.” Another spiteful smile spread over her face.
“But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re fully conscious
before we toss you and your boyfriend out into space.”
When they left, Lex stood staring at Rosie’s sleeping
face. For the first time in her life, she felt completely
hopeless and wanted to cry for letting the child down.
All because she’d wanted to show off and impress Blane.
If only she could warn him.
In a desperate attempt, she called forth her gift again
on a chance Blane had enough telepathic power to pick
up her mental SOS. She visualized him as she reached
out with her super senses for his life-form’s flow of
energy, willing him to come to her.
She lost track of time waiting for what would come.
She doubted there’d be another chance to fight. When
they came to get her, they’d probably use a dart gun to
administer the truth drug.
When a door opened at the far end of the stockade,
she jerked back with an adrenaline rush, expecting the
worst. When Blane walked through the panel dressed in
black battle dress with a variety of weapons attached to
his wide belt, Lex’s mouth opened with a happy sound of
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astonishment.
“Some team-player you turned out to be, Monroe.”
He glanced at the sleeping child, then came to Lex’s
cage, studying her face. “You all right?”
She nodded, her silvery eyes shining with happiness.
“They didn’t hurt me.” God, he was gorgeous and
resourceful. “How did you find me?” She believed he’d
heard her mental message.
“I tuned into your beta brainwaves.” His gaze was on
his equipment, which was rapidly running numbers.
“You can trace people via their brain waves?” She’d
never heard of such a thing.
“It doesn’t come close to what your inbred system can
do,” he replied, still looking at the equipment and
making adjustments. “But if I know the individual and
they’re nearby, it works pretty well. You were easy to
find because your agitation put you in high beta.”
He was astounding. No wonder she loved him.
Unwise thought. “I’m sorry I messed up. They’re
searching for you. They plan to space us.”
Still watching numbers, he grunted. “Don’t
apologize. You found the child and they still have to find
us. I shut down the security cams on three levels,
including the docking bay, but it won’t take them long to
discover it isn’t a malfunction.”
There was a buzz and a popping sound, and the cage
doors slid open. He grinned and she moved out of the
pen, grabbing the front of his bodysuit to take his lips in
a hard, smacking kiss before she headed for Rosie. “I’ll
carry the child. I’ve memorized the blueprint, in case
you didn’t. I know the route we should take.”
When they came through a sliding panel short
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minutes later, alarms were already wailing through the
docking bay. Guards hadn’t surrounded Blane’s ship yet,
but they were heading in that direction. From the far end
of the hanger, someone shouted, “There they are.”
Carrying the still sleeping Rosie over her shoulder,
firefighter style, Lex turned the child away from the
squad of oncoming guards and drew her laser. At the
same time, in a confusion of raised voices and running
footsteps, there was a sharp, drilling sound and most of
the guards went down in a bloody clutter of bodies.
“What the hell was that?” Lex glanced over at the
black ball-shaped barreled weapon Blane was holding in
his hand.
“Self-built fragmentation blaster. It saves time when
outnumbered, but it can’t be reloaded. Let’s go, and stay
behind me.”
“I can dodge the blasts. You concentrate on getting
the ship going.” To prove her point, Lex moved with
blurring speed across the docking bay deck. Even with
the child in her arms, she was up and into the cockpit
several moments before Blane leaped into his pilot’s
seat. He’d left the craft on ready alert, moving closer to
the retina scan unit to activate the controls.
Outside, while alarms continued to blare all over the
multistory docking bay, the group of running guards
were discharging their weapons. Blane, however had
already boosted the deflector shields so the bright blasts
of laser fire streamed harmlessly against the Starcrest’s
hull.
Inside, Lex was placing Rosie’s lax body on the
seat-bed at the rear of the cockpit, securing the harness
around the child, then covering her with a blanket. Lex
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was pleased to see Rosie’s breathing was deep and
regular. Her instincts told her the little girl wouldn’t
suffer any aftereffects from the drug she’d been given.
Hearing the timely rumble of engine fire, Lex rushed to
strap herself into the copilot’s chair, her expression
falling when she saw the heavy airlock doors front of
them. “How do we get through the sealed exits? If you
ram them how much damage will it do to the ship—?”
Before the sentence was out of her mouth, the doors
magically slid back and sealed the compartment behind
the ship. Blane gave her a wink. “I cloned the code when
we arrived.”
As they shot out of the opening at full throttle, roaring
away at into the star-filled blackness, Blane flipped a
switch to release a cluster of decoy rubble.
* * * *
On the command deck at the top of the Glory Dome,
Hubert Milne, the space station’s military chief, hissed
through his teeth as he watched the hornet missiles he’d
just discharged veer off course and chase the decoy
debris the Starcrest had dispersed in its wake. “Deploy
the fighters, now. Now!” he shouted through the
intercom. “Shoot them down, damn it! They must not
escape.” He trembled at the thought of facing Myles
Kromnic, the Dome’s dreaded owner. If he failed to
destroy the infiltrators, Milne knew that death was a
likely consequence. Aware of the shift captain standing
silently behind him, he snarled over his shoulder, “Get
the head of security up here now. I want a list of all the
idiots who had direct contact with the spies.”
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With luck, when he made his report to Kromnic he
could point the finger at someone else.
* * * *
Blane spotted the cluster of blips on his scope. “They’re
sending fighters after us.”
Lex didn’t tense. She felt no fear in huntress mode,
but she did glance back at little Rosie with concern.
Fortunately, the little girl was still sleeping soundly
under the blanket.
“Have you had any air-to-air combat training?”
Looking back at Blane, she shook her head. “No, but
I’ve trained with helmet mounted cue systems, which
must be similar. Tell me what to do and I’ll handle it.”
He glanced at her with a gleam of approval in his
eyes. “It’s not complicated, but it needs a steady hand.”
He rotated the ship’s laser weapons into ready position.
“Once you actuate the sensor, it’ll calibrate the line of
sight between us and the approaching fighter. As soon as
the target is in range, the sensor will bleep and you fire.”
She didn’t have to wait long before the scanner
zeroed in on an approaching fighter. It was still too far
away to be seen, even by her exceptional eyes. Tensely,
she watched the small display screen as the scope
centered on the target. With her gaze fixed, she
depressed the button, releasing a searing cannon blast.
The enemy ship turned into a ball of fire, lighting up the
blackness before the craft sped away to nothingness.
Before she could say, That was easy, several bolts of
laser fire from another enemy ships streaked past the
cockpit window, causing the Starcrest to rock slightly.
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As Blane put the ship into an evasive dive, Lex noted,
“There’s two, maybe three more ships out there. But we
seem to be holding our lead.”
“Because we’re faster. But they can still stay in firing
range until we reach the jump point.”
As he spoke, the ship rocked again as bolts of laser
fire streaked past the bow of the ship. With the expert
skill that had earned him a reputation as a hotshot pilot,
Blane made another sharp banking maneuver, rolling the
ship, then weaving to keep it out of the way of the
constant fire.
Lex lined up her weapon again and turned another
fighter into a shower of flaming fragments. “There’s still
two of them out there. How much longer till we reach the
jump point?
“Moments away. Once I kick this baby into
light-speed, we’re gone. And by the way, Monroe, you
can have my back anytime.”
From him, that was a massive accolade.
There was another stream of bright fire close to the
cockpit window before the Starcrest’s engines dipped
into the deeper drone of light-speed drive. Seconds later,
the stars became continuous strips of light and Blane
surprised her with a “Yeehaw!”
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Chapter Seven
any hours later, Lex was back in her one-level
California home, sitting on her back porch steps.
She was dressed casually in a blue crop t-shirt and beige
shorts with her hair tied back. It was late afternoon there,
but the sun was still warm on her face and limbs. The
house, with its spectacular views of mountains to the
west and south, was her breathing space away from the
dark side of her work.
A lot had happened while she’d been away. Most
importantly, Rosie’s kidnapper was already in custody,
awaiting trial. Apparently, the director general of the
Interplanetary Child Protection Agency had suspected
the spate of foster children abductions was an inside job,
but she’d kept it under wraps until the police could nail
the culprit, who, amazingly, turned out to be Valerie
Thomas, the deputy director of Child Protection. With
access to thousands of foster children’s whereabouts, it
was easy for the deputy to arrange to have the children
she’d targeted snatched and transported to the Dome.
Lex figured the woman would end up doing life in one of
the off-planet penal colonies. The high-security prisons
were known as hellholes, with a large majority of the
inhabitants opting to self-terminate.
M
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As for Lex, she’d run through the messages her
friends had left on her Earth link while she was
off-planet. Three calls were from Douglas Watson, a
lawyer she’d dated a few times. Briefly, Lex had
considered calling him back and going out to dinner, but
since they’d already had sex, he’d be expecting it and
she wasn’t in the mood, probably because Blane’s name
had popped up twice on her caller ID screen.
She wasn’t taking Mister Sebastian’s calls because
she figured he was just calling to say some goodbye see
you around type of thing. While they’d bonded during
the mission and he’d told her again when they returned
to Earth that he’d been proud to partner her, he’d said
nothing on a personal level to indicate he wanted to see
her again. And there had been plenty of time as they’d
had to wait around and fill out reports while little Rosie
was checked over at the Medical Center and reunited
with her adoptive parents.
Lex had waited until Blane was talking to Rosie’s
adoptive father, then she’d left without saying goodbye.
It might be stupid and childish not to pick up Blane’s
calls, but she didn’t think her system could handle a
conversation with him right now.
Since she was feeling at odds with herself, she
decided to look at the Professional Tracer’s website. She
knew the best way to regain her balance was through
work. Turning to reach for her handheld processor,
sitting on the porch deck behind her, she opened the
tracer’s home page and keyed in the universal license ID
that allowed her to operate on other sovereign planets.
Scanning the long list of wanted criminals, she looked
for one that would net her the largest paycheck.
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At the sound of a vehicle drawing up at the front of
the house, her head came up alertly. It couldn’t be Kat,
since she was at the ranch this weekend with Max and
Brett, and Brig was busy preparing for a new mission.
With the thought that it might be Blane, her heart sped
up, then settled again when she picked up Brig’s aura.
“I thought you were already on your way to your next
assignment,” Lex called out when her twin walked
around the side of the house dressed in maroon bodysuit.
Brig gave a frustrated hand gesture. “Since these
clients want me there yesterday, I didn’t have time to
replace my damaged flak vest. Can I borrow yours,
seeing as you’re on vacation for a couple of weeks?”
“Sure, I’ll get it for you. Do you have time for a cold
drink?”
Brig glanced at her wrist unit. “Yeah, I can spare a
few minutes to catch up. Got any fruit juice?” Brig was
health conscious. While Lex ran up the porch step to the
kitchen, Brig walked up and sat in one of the yellow
cushioned chairs.
Returning a few moments later with the vest and a
large glass of mixed juice, Lex sat facing her twin,
picking up her glass of iced tea. “I didn’t get a chance to
ask about this mission. Is it a protection job?”
“Yeah, I’ll be heading up a team hired to beef up
protection around a guy who has an assassin on his tail.”
“Where’s he located?”
“Runs a planet called Ben Nevis Two.”
“Isn’t there’s a mountain in Scotland called Ben
Nevis?”
“Yeah, seems the target’s a genuine Scottish prince,
which means he’s bound to be a royal pain in the ass.
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Pun intended.”
“So it could be a longish job.”
“Depends how clever the assassin is, and how fast I
can smell him out.” She waved a hand. “We’re wasting
time. I want to know how things went with bounty
hunter delicious. How was it opening that door again?”
Lex pulled a face. She wanted to avoid that topic.
“I’m still processing. I’d rather not talk about it, yet.”
Brig studied her sister. “Uh-huh. Well, I don’t need
details, just an overview. Would you classify it as
average,
run-of-the-mill
sex,
or
white
hot,
knock-your-socks-off sex?”
“What if I told you we didn’t have sex?”
Brig snorted. “It’s all over your face.”
Lex nodded. “I figured you knew from the beginning
I had a thing for him.”
Brig grinned. “Besides the fact that I’m your psychic
twin, you mean. Yeah, I could see you were taking more
care with your hair and wardrobe. And you overused his
name in conversation. Even an ordinary person couldn’t
miss how you came alive when he appeared.”
“Why didn’t you saying anything at the time?”
“I suppose I was waiting for you to speak first. Then
when he left suddenly, I saw how devastated you were. It
was clear you didn’t want to talk about it. I did my
sisterly duty and kept my trap shut.” She held Lex’s
gaze. “I guess the most important thing now is, what are
you going to do about him?”
Lex glanced away for a moment, deciding not to
mention that she hadn’t picked up his calls. “I’m not
going to do anything about him. The fact that we had sex
hasn’t changed anything. He didn’t say or indicate in any
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way that he wants to get involved…not with me,
anyway. Perhaps he doesn’t have it in him.” She
gestured the words away. “Anyway. The mission’s over,
he’s gone and it’s back to business.”
Brig studied her for a moment. “Personally, I’ve
always believed that men are better in theory than
reality. I prefer to stick to surface involvements. Enjoy
sex as a man would without emotion complicating it.”
“Will that be enough for you?” Lex had to ask.
Though Brig was the elder by five minutes, sometimes
she seemed years older in her outlook.
“It’s enough. With family and friends, and a job I
love, I don’t need a man to complete me.”
Lex sighed. “At this moment, that makes a lot of
sense.”
“Then again,” Brig said watching Lex’s face, “if I
wanted a man as much as you obviously do, I’d damn
well fight for him.”
Glancing up at the emphasis in her twin’s voice, it
occurred to her for the first time that one or both of her
sisters might have done a spot of matchmaking. Before
she could comment, Brig rose.
“I’d better get going.” She moved around the table to
give Lex a hug. “Take care of yourself, baby sister. I’ll
check in with you while I’m away.”
Both women stilled at the sound of another vehicle
drawing up at the front of the house. Lex jumped to her
feet with a soft gasp when she recognized Blane’s aura.
Since he’d never been to the house before, he had to be
using his beta thing if he knew she was back here in the
garden
As his black-clad form strode around the building,
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Brig darted a glance at her sister’s flustered expression
and stepped forward to shake Blane’s hand. “Hey,
stranger, congratulations on the Dome rescue. In case
you didn’t know, it’s all over the galaxy media hubs.”
“Yeah, thanks.” He looked distracted as his gaze
tracked to Lex. Then, evidently remembering his
manners, he looked back at Brig with a smile. “And a lot
of credit for the op’s success has to go to your sister.”
Brig nodded. “That’s what I like to hear.”
“So, what’s new with you?” he asked while his gaze
drifted to Lex again.
Lex kept her expression neutral, but her mind was
racing, figuring he’d come in person to let her down
gently. In case she intended to try to start up a
relationship…because he knew damn well that she’d
fallen for him all over again.
“So,” he was saying to Brig, “Kat said you’re now
specializing in security.”
“Yep, we Monroes like to cover all the avenues.” She
glanced at her timepiece. “And I’d better get going, or
I’ll miss the shuttle to my new assignment.” She patted
his arm. “Maybe I’ll see you before another six years
pass.”
“I imagine you will.”
As Brig started to walk away, Lex called after her,
“Let me know when you arrive on Ben Nevis.”
* * * *
Blane moved closer to Lex, then stopped two steps away
when he saw her stiffen as though ready to reject his
touch. He’d had plenty of time to fuel his anger on the
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long drive over from his beach house in Brilvu County.
Now, all he could think was how good she looked in her
skimpy outfit with those long, gorgeous legs. “Why the
hell don’t you answer your link?”
She studied his face and shrugged. “I’ve been busy. I
turned off the links. Was there something special you
wanted to talk to me about?” Her expression froze. “Oh,
Lord, it isn’t something to do with Rosie, is it?”
He shook his head. “No, the little one’s safe at home.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Why did you leave
the medical center without saying goodbye?”
Her gaze looked shuttered. “You were busy talking, I
was ready to leave. I waved, but you didn’t see me. Why
are you asking?”
“We need to talk.”
She folded her arms. “All right, but I don’t have much
time. I have to set up this contract before someone else
grabs it.” She indicated to the open computer.
“Gearing up for another mission right away?”
“That’s what I had in mind. Now, why are you here,
Blane?”
She wasn’t making this easy. Beneath her cool gaze,
he could see she was holding onto her temper. “I think,”
he ventured, “that we became a unit as well as lovers
during the mission. And we need to talk about it.”
If that intrigued her, she didn’t show it. “So…what…
you’re here for some convenient sex before we go our
separate ways with a promise to get together from time
to time?”
Now, he was getting angry, even as he tried to soothe
her. “Look, I know what you really want is to kick me in
the balls for being a fool. Let’s go inside and have a cold
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beer and see if I can change your mind.”
She shook her head. No, I’m not interested in what
you’re offering.”
“How do you know what I’m offering when I haven’t
offered it?”
* * * *
Whatever it was, she knew she would only have as much
of him as he allowed—and it wouldn’t be enough. The
proud part of her told her to reject him outright. But as
she looked into his liquid brown eyes and breathed in the
tantalizing scent of his skin, her libido started to think
like a woman who was about to begin a strict diet,
tempted to splurge and have sex one last time before she
seriously set her mind to getting over him.
As she teetered on the brink of indecision, he solved
the problem, drawing her close to fuse his lips to hers.
The first quick thrust of his tongue stilled her palms as
they flattened against his chest. Their breaths mingled,
their tongues engaged and his taste overpowered what
was left of her resolve.
* * * *
Blane slanted his head to deepen the kiss with bruising
urgency, drawing in her taste as he leaned in so she could
feel the hard ridge of his sex. When he rocked his hips
slightly, his erection throbbed and an explosive puff of
air traveled from her mouth into his.
Then her hands were on his shoulders, fingers diving
into his hair, pulling it loose. He tightened his arms
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around her. She pressed her vagina against his shaft. His
breathing grew heavier. Whatever had broken loose
between them on the Dome was more than passion and it
was coursing through him tenfold, now. He let his lips
travel across her jaw to place hot wet kisses along her
neck, murmuring, “God, Lexy, if I’d tasted you back
when we first met.”
She murmured something he couldn’t decipher.
Pressing against him as his hand came up to caress her
breast, he slipped inside her top to cup her naked flesh,
his thumb circling the hardening pink tip.
She replied by slipping her hands under his T-shirt to
touch his skin and caress his nipples. He made a
growling sound putting his hands on her bottom cheeks
to pull her into contact with his throbbing cock as he
thrust his tongue into her mouth repeatedly.
With three quick movements, he pulled off her top
and had her flat on the grass, covering her with his body.
He nudged her legs apart to settle himself between her
thighs and stare down at the swell of her pink-tipped
breasts. She put her hands around his neck as he bent to
nibble her lower lip and draw it into his mouth, his hand
moving to unfasten her shorts. The sound of their
quickened breathing and moans blended with the medley
of sounds coming from the roosting birds huddled in the
trees overhead.
He nuzzled her neck again and his hand moved to
cover the strip of fabric shielding her sex, his questing
fingers slipping beneath her panties to sift through her
soft springy curls. He parted her slick folds and moved to
the top to flick at her protruding bud. A moan escaped
from her lips.
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“Mmm. Sexy Lexy,” he murmured. It was how he’d
always thought of her. Releasing his penis, he guided it
to her opening, spreading her legs with his thighs as he
pushed deep, making gratified sounds in his throat when
her tight walls gripped his heavy girth.
* * * *
As he pulled back and plunged with a thrust that made
her pelvis jerk, Lex’s breath all but exploded from her
lungs. “God, yes.” She wrapped her legs around his
waist to take him as deep as she could, moving into his
tempo. If her deeper self caught the flow of something
different in him, as if she was finally having the same
effect on him as he had on her, she was too lost in
sensation to analyze as he worked her back and forth on
his granite-hard shaft. “Oh…oh.”
He pounded her with more and more urgency. Every
plunging thrust went deeper, flooding her senses as his
breath came faster and harder. She bucked and writhed
beneath him, screaming his name as she came. She was
both rapturous and devastated. No man was going to
make her happy after this.
A short time later in the twilight, Lex was snuggled
against his warm, masculine scent, still floating in the
afterglow of their lovemaking while she rationalized the
situation. Even if they just did the date thing and had sex
and then she wouldn’t see him for months, it was better
than not seeing him at all. In truth, there weren’t any
guarantees in any relationship. Even if she got hurt
again, it had to be better than shutting off her feelings
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and risk turning hard.
* * * *
“You have beautiful skin, you know.” He watched her
blink before pleasure lit her eyes.
“You think so, eh?”
“I do.” He ran a finger along her arm, letting his gaze
slid over her entire body. “From that first day, I
wondered if your skin would be creamy smooth all
over.”
Her eyes widened. “You visualized me naked on that
first day, while you were on duty?”
His mouth curved. “I did.”
“I’m shocked and astonished.”
His eyes twinkled. Looking at her in the glow of the
setting sunlight, he realized it had never simply been
about sexual attraction. He needed her as much as he
wanted her. The knowledge dazed him a little. “What do
you think about us becoming a permanent team?”
She gave him a quizzical look. “What, work together
on a regular basis you mean?”
He nuzzled her neck so he could draw in her scent.
“That would be part of it. And you certainly have my
respect in that area. But I was thinking more of us living
together.” All unconsciously, he’d made the decision.
“I’d like to take binding vows.”
* * * *
She stilled as hope and yearning expanded in her chest.
She couldn’t tear her gaze from his. It was just as well
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she was lying down, because she doubted her legs would
hold her.
He brushed strands of hair from her face. “The next
move’s yours, Monroe. What’s it going to be?”
For a moment, she couldn’t form any words. “Uh,
why do you want to marry me?”
His gaze didn’t waver. “Hmm, you want to know why
I never got in touch after Boston?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, well firstly, you may have been young, but
you packed an immediate, sexual punch, and the last
thing I wanted that summer was to be affected by you.
There were still a lot of adventurous pathways I wanted
to explore as a single man. I told myself that for you, it
was a teenage crush that wouldn’t hurt for long. And
once you started college, you’d have hoards of male
followers.”
He caught her hand to slide their palms together.
“Now, I figure if I don’t make you mine, you may not be
available next time around.”
His words surged through her, taking her completely
by surprise, her eyes filling with happiness while tears
glimmered on the surface. It seemed that after all it had
been for the best that they’d stayed apart until they were
older and more able to appreciate what they had
together.
He inhaled. “I may not be the best husband material
in the galaxy, but I truly care about you, Lexy…love
you, if you need to hear the words. And I’ll try my best to
make you happy.”
Raising a hand to stroke his cheek, she said simply, “I
accept.”
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He cupped her face and studied it, a smile curving his
mouth before he took possession of hers.
Lex clung to his broad shoulders and kissed him back
with all the passion and need she’d stored up. Now, there
was a bright, new energy shimmering around them that
told her they were destined to grow old together.
About the Author
Ali Atwood, born and raised in the British Isles, is now
living the outdoor life in Florida.
Her genres of choice are erotic paranormal and sci-fi
romance. And her writing is powered by her tea
addiction. She especially enjoys creating tough-minded
heroines to match wills and wits with dominant, lusty
heroes. Mostly, Ali strives to make her stories fun.
Ali welcomes questions or comments from her
readers. Tweet or visit her website: