Chapter 28 Varok
VAROK
Together, we led the freed slaves out of the Collector hive. Not all; some stayed behind, either too afraid of trying to escape their masters, or too loyal to abandon them. I didn’t question their choice—immortality was a heady prospect, and this was one of the few ways to achieve it.
If you could call surviving in a crystal cocoon ‘life,’ anyway. Not for me. I’d take a handful of days with my human over an eternity of simulated existence in the crystal hell the Collectors had crafted for themselves.
We streamed out into the biting cold of the twilight world, an icy wind stripping the warmth from us.
Some freed servitors glanced behind us, tempted by the safety and warmth they were leaving behind, but none turned back.
Penny, dressed for the arena as she was, shivered violently but didn’t let that stop her guiding our party onto the largest of the Hive’s skimmers.
“On, get on,” she urged them, organizing them with the ferocity and intensity that made her infuriatingly impressive as a thief, a rival, and a lover. “Cold blooded beings to the middle, everyone huddle in, we’ll conserve warmth.”
Most obeyed without question—wise, there wasn’t time for debate. One, a Prytheen, looked about to object until I caught his gaze and snarled. He backed down.
“My ship will not hold so many,” I whispered to Penny, not taking my eyes off the rebellious Prytheen. “Will yours?”
“No way. Not even close.” She kept guiding our guests into place as she spoke, body language full of confidence. “We’ll have to steal someone else’s.”
“That sounds like a plan I’d propose.”
“No.” She shot me a bright grin. Her lips were a worrying shade of blue. “If it were your plan, you’d wait until we were at the spaceport to worry about it. I’ve got something resembling an actual plan.”
I laughed at that, unable to argue the point, and lifted her bodily onto the skimmer, ignoring her struggles as I pushed her into the warmth of the alien crowd. Before she could object, I spoke firmly.
“Penelope, you are freezing. I will not let you die because you’re too busy saving others to take care of yourself.”
“But—” her objection cut off under a chorus of agreement as the freed servants pulled her into their midst. Crowded, the skimmer lurched as I nudged it away from the platform and its systems came to life.
The ice wind howled outside, but the environmental shield kept the worst at bay, and I reached for the throttle.
“Wait!” I turned at the shout and glared.
Lady Amyral, Scion of the Protectorate, had abandoned her dignity to run, pushing a familiar loader ahead of her.
She hadn’t changed out of her party dress, which looked ridiculous as the wind tugged at it.
She’d abandoned her fancy shoes at some point, and I wondered if she’d regret bare feet in this climate.
It was the container she had with her that made me pause, lifting my hand from the throttle. I knew that box well, having carted it across this Void-damned city—it contained The Night Watch.
“A little help, please?” She smiled, a less polished expression than I’d seen on her before. More sincere? Time would tell. “I can pay, and I don’t plan to be here when our hosts wake up.”
She patted the hovering loader, then glanced back over her shoulder. Pursuit was coming.
I shared a look with Penny, who had spoken to Amyral and knew her better than I did.
She sighed, rolled her eyes, and nodded.
Together, we waved the Scion onto the skimmer.
As soon as she was aboard, the extra weight making the gravity generator whine, I twisted the throttle, and we soared away from the Hive, toward the spaceport and freedom.
We wasted no time in choosing a ship to steal.
The first one that looked large enough to accommodate us all, the Tai’var, became our target.
Penny, teeth chattering, and fingers frozen numb, somehow still overrode the locks with my brother’s datachip, letting us into the glorious warmth of its bridge.
Luxurious carpets lined the floor, soothing melodies played as the ship came alive around us, and hologram projectors gave the impression of dawn breaking.
This was, no doubt about it, a fancy yacht, prioritizing aesthetics over practical matters.
Amyral didn’t pause, striding to the command chair and sitting down as though she owned the ship.
A control interface blossomed to life under her fingers, and within ten minutes, the ship’s computer agreed, convinced that she was the captain of the Tai’var.
The benefits of being raised a Protectorate noble, I supposed—her family would be at most two generations removed from actual pirates.
I didn’t object; if it meant we could get off the accursed iceball fast, she’d earned a payday. And it raised some interesting possibilities.
I did point out that if she didn’t take us to Earth, I’d tear her limbs off. She laughed at that, lounging in the captain’s seat as though she’d been born to it.
“I wouldn’t mess with my friends, Varok,” she said, one hand dancing through computer code, the other holding a glass of something blue. I didn’t waste time wondering where she’d gotten it.
“Are we friends, then?”
“I make it a point to be friendly with anyone who saves my life,” she said. “Besides, you took on a Collector hive to save your girl. I’m not dumb enough to get between the two of you. Speaking of Penny, she looked like she might need medical attention.”
“Yes, I will take her to the medbay now,” I said, accepting her attempt to end the conversation. My warning had been delivered, the pirate princess would listen or not. Better to spend my time on productive matters.
“Like fun you will,” Penny said. I turned to see her fierce expression and a twinkle in her eye. “I’m fine, and anyway, first things first.”
And she grabbed hold of me, pulling herself up to plant a kiss that ignited every fiber of my being with a divine light. Time stopped. The universe froze. She was all that existed. Us. Our passion and our love.
The kiss was everything, and when we parted for air, I had to fight down an urge to ravish my beloved right there on the yacht’s bridge. It was a near thing, too. My heart pounded loud enough to drown out all other sounds, and the delicious scent of my beloved made me throb with need and desire.
With a snarling roar, I lifted her and carried her into the ship, leaving Amyral to her newly claimed bridge. I knew where I was going, at least vaguely. On luxury ships like the Tai’var, the owner’s cabin would be near the bridge. I found it behind the first door I opened.
The large, beautiful, well-appointed room was wasted on us. I had no eyes for it as I carried Penny over the threshold. All I needed was the shower, an ornate fixture screened from the rest of the cabin by a privacy field.
Penny gave a little shriek as I activated it, water striking us from every angle, warm like a summer storm.
A clever AI mixed cleaning agents into the water before I thought to ask for it, and in moments we were both clean of the arena’s gore.
I hadn’t realized how desperately we both needed to wash until the floral scent of the shower replaced the stink of combat.
Human fingers, nimble and fast, undid my pants. I tore at Penny’s armor with less skill but equal fervor. Straps parted, and I wrenched the armored sleeve away. In moments we stood naked in the wild storm of water and air, our clothing tossed aside.
“You are glorious,” I said, my voice raw and low and hungry. A crimson glow spread across her cheeks, and she bit her lip. But she didn’t pull back or lower her eyes. Instead, she gazed at me with an intensity I’d never seen in her.
Her pounce caught me by surprise, the impact staggering me as she flung her arms around my neck and pulled herself up for a kiss. Turning, I caught my balance and snarled into her, catching her under the thighs and lifting her to me, our wet bodies pressed together with nothing between us.
The sensation was enough to drive me insane, and the way her heart raced told me Penny shared the feeling. Her fingers dug in, scratching hard enough to make me gasp, and I pressed her back against the wall with a roar that broke the kiss.
“Ohgodyes,” she gasped, words too fast to separate but meaning clear.
I shifted my grip, lifting her higher, hungrily kissing and biting as I pushed her upward.
Her lips first, then her neck. She squirmed and whimpered, panting, and I growled again.
Her breath caught as my teeth scraped her neck, and her hands tightened almost painfully on my shoulders.
Higher. Trailing kisses down to the perfect curves of her breasts, biting passionately and flicking my tongue across her pebbled nipples. My beloved threw back her head and howled, so I did it again, swirling my tongue around one, then the other.
I’m not sure whether she cursed me or praised me then.
It sounded like both at once, but she did not try to escape my grip, so I continued.
Moving from one nipple to the other, I scraped my teeth across them each time.
Only when my human’s body shook uncontrollably did I move on, lifting her higher, kissing my way along her stomach.
Definitely cursing me now. I chuckled again, drinking in her need for me. Her passion, her lust. She pulled at my head, gripped my hair, pulled me to her and tried to speed me up.
I refused to hurry. With one hand holding her up, I slid the other beneath her and traced along her eager, quivering lips. She whimpered and squirmed, and I laughed.
“You, Varok, are a fucking asshole,” she said with an effort. I barked a laugh, moving my finger back and forth, barely touching her.
“What’s the matter, little one?” I asked. “If you don’t enjoy this, I can always stop?”
“Don’t you dare!” Her fingers tightened in my hair, and I relented. In truth, I didn’t know if I could have stopped then. I was aching hard, my cock a steel rod that almost hurt as Penny drove me wild, and the delay frustrated me almost as much as her.
But I would deny myself a little longer, for her sake.
Raising her again, I slid my face between her parted thighs, tongue darting out to taste her, to tease her.
The shudder that ran through her made me growl again, and she didn’t have to encourage me to pull her tight against me, licking and kissing and sucking on her clit as hot water ran down our bodies.
Her legs squeezed tight around my face, and her hands pulled at my hair as she writhed against me. Soon, her cries of pleasure merged into an ecstatic howl, and her muscles tensed, thighs squeezing my head.
Her shudders calmed eventually, and she relaxed, hanging limp in my grip. But I wasn’t done devouring the beauty before me, and she whimpered as my tongue lapped at her delicious pussy.
I think she tried to speak, but whatever words she was trying for disappeared as her breathing turned to gasps. Her body vibrated, and I lowered her to the water-lashed floor of the shower, letting her rest against the cool ceramic surface as I tended to her with more care though no less passion.
Her second orgasm came almost immediately, as delicious as the first. A third followed on its heels, rocking her and making her arch her back. I looked up along the length of her wonderful human body, seeing the water and sweat on her trembling curves. I knew I’d never tire of this sight.
“Stop,” Penny gasped, her voice weak and shaking as she came back from the peak. “Varok, please…ohmygod.”
I lifted my mouth from her and grinned, teasing. “You have a complaint?”
“Oh god no,” she moaned. “Except if you keep this up, I’m going to melt into a puddle. Then I don’t get to return the favor.”
“I don’t mind waiting,” I said, lowering my head again and sucking her clit into my mouth, tongue dancing over it gently.
Her body arched again, my grin widened, and my cock twitched. I’d never been harder in my life, and I ached to bury myself deep inside her, but still I held myself back. Let her tremble, let her need grow, and a delightful flush spread down across her breasts.
She met my gaze, frustration and passion a heady mix behind her eyes. Tongue darting out to lick her lips, she spoke, her voice strained and low.
“I need you, Varok. I need you inside me. Please.”