Chapter Twenty-Six
Jax
I barely slept. The conversation with Thanh rolled in my mind, sending sharp stabs of pain through my limbs any time I thought of watching her leave. I held her against me in bed, memorizing her face, the feel of her skin under my hands. It was like taking a poisonous knife to my chest over and over in the hopes that it would somehow make me immune but I didn’t care. Let it hurt; the pain was worth it for every second I had her in my life, in my bed, in my arms.
When Narrou woke us for the morning shift to meet with the rest of my crew and plan our job, I decided that I wouldn’t let Thanh see how much this hurt. We both needed to be focused. A distraction like this could cost us both our lives and I couldn’t allow that. So I smiled down at her as she woke, a sleepy yawn stretching her mouth adorably as her eyes struggled to open.
“Good morning,” I murmured.
She hummed a response and buried her face against me.
“We don’t have time for that,” I said.
She groaned in frustration and kissed my chest.
“Are you sure? I could be very, very quick.”
Oh this woman! If she knew how much influence she had over me, there would be chaos.
“Oh really?” I asked, kissing the tip of her nose. “What if I wanted to take my time eating you?”
“I’d say you’re doing it right, but if we don’t have a lot of time…”
She ducked under the covers and pushed me onto my back. Before I could say anything else, she had her mouth around my dick and took me deep on her first pass.
“Fucking…oh, Ancestors!”
My back bowed off the bed as she squeezed the base of my cock and took me to the back of her throat again and again. Her breasts brushed against my thighs, and I needed to see her cheeks hollow. I threw the covers back and groaned low and long. Her hair was a disaster, cheeks flush and eyes bright as the hot embrace of her mouth made me lose my mind.
I put my hand on the top of her head and asked a question with my eyes. She nodded as best she could with me filling her mouth and I damn near came just from that.
But I had wanted to fuck her mouth for a long time, and now was my chance. I held her hair and thrust up into her mouth at the same time I pulled her down onto me. Our grunts and groans filled the air, and I held out as long as I possibly could before fire raced up my spine and I was filling her mouth with my seed.
“Drink me down,” I demanded with a harsh tone. “Take it all…every drop…”
And she did.
Thanh swallowed everything I gave her. And what she couldn’t swallow, she proceeded to lick off my cock like a starved woman. It was the best fucking blow job of my life and I should’ve been flying high, feeling like a god. But all I could think of was the ticking clock hanging above our heads.
“It’s not enough,” I hissed and pulled her up to me.
I pressed a hard, desperate kiss to her mouth before putting her thighs on either side of my body and scooting down until my mouth was on her apex.
“Jax,” she groaned, taking my horns in her hands.
I let her steer me, one of my hands on her ass and the other playing with her clit while I tongue fucked her. I had her shaking in minutes but I backed off, needing this to last, even if we were late to the meeting.
They could wait, I wasn’t going to waste a single moment with my mate.
“Tell me,” I said against her vulva. “Tell me no one eats this pussy like I do.”
“It’s true,” she ground against my mouth, “you know how to touch me…know what I need…Jax!”
I didn’t stop this time. I worked her up and then shoved her ruthlessly over the edge of her orgasm. That breathless sob that fell from her gaping mouth when she came was my new favorite sound, the taste of her as she squirted into my mouth my new favorite taste.
“No more…I can’t…”
I didn’t stop, I wanted more and I knew she did too. So on the heels of one orgasm, I got another out of her. She screamed and writhed on top of me, pulling out some hair as she yanked on my horns.
When she finally stopped moving and fell to the side, we were both panting and sweaty, her release shining on my mouth. As she watched, I wiped it off and licked my fingers clean. A feral gleam lit up her eyes and my little mate growled at me before seizing my chin and placing a devastating kiss to my mouth.
“I want you to smell me on you all fucking day,” she hissed. “And then tonight, I want to tie you up and torture you a bit before I let you fuck me.”
“Yes, please .”
I was completely lost in her, my hands clutching and grasping her flesh, molding it in my hands as I kissed her. We would’ve stayed like that, fucking and cuddling at intervals all morning if Narrou hadn’t chimed again and let us know that everyone was waiting on us.
Thanh pulled away first, questions burning in her eyes. I didn’t want to talk about last night, not yet. Maybe not ever if she was going to leave. I wanted this delusion for as long as possible so I had memories to sustain me. But when she opened her mouth I knew she was about to bring it up so I cut her off. Damn the consequences.
“No more talking about it,” I said. “We take every moment as it comes.”
She wasn’t angry, just sadly resigned as she gave me a smile.
“Okay,” she whispered, kissing me one more time with a gentleness that nearly shattered me.
After a quick breakfast in my parents’ quarters, in which Mother went over a few basics with Thanh about being bonded to a sentient ship, we all met in the galley where a square projector in the middle of the table showed us a 3D model of the bank. It was a lot more complex than I’d thought it would be and I hated to admit that I was grateful for Brahn. There was no way we’d be able to navigate the maze of corridors and nonsensical dead ends that made up the bank.
“The structure is divided into four different sections, north, east, south and west,” Brahn began. “Each section has ten levels, four of which are under water in each section. There is only one landing pad, here in the center. We will take the north lift down to the sixth floor where the engine is kept. We will need the gun turrets here and here disabled.”
“Got it,” Sherrod said, “all the turrets should be down by the time you get there, and the drones will be as well.”
“Since the sentient staff have all been recalled, the security droids inside the bank are on high alert and there are more of them than usual. We must be cautious.”
“I can hack into their programing and have them stand down, but they’ll still technically be active,” Sherrod said. “The stand down code will only last as long as you don’t trip any of the fail safes or locks. And because they’re on heightened alert, I’m going to need to go slow, which means one hallway at a time. So when I give you the all clear, proceed down the hall and then wait for me before proceeding down the next. And whatever you do, don’t, under any circumstances, engage one of them, even if they start walking around. Unless they start shooting at you, don’t do a thing to the droids. If you engage with them and they don’t recognize you or you fire at them, it will trigger cascading fail safes and I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop it.”
“I can handle the bio locks,” Oontash said, “I’ve got hair samples from the two bio signatures we need.”
“Do I even want to know?” I asked.
She gave me a razor sharp toothy grin and shook her head.
“What’s our exit strategy?” Thanh asked.
“We won’t be leaving the same way, too dangerous,” Brahn set a pack on the table. “I hope all of you can swim. These are pocket respirators.” He handed us each a device that was length of my hand with a mouth piece on one side. “It will extract oxygen from the water and allow you to breathe. When we have the engine, we will blow a nearby hatch, swim through the connected tunnel, and out into the open water. The bank set up electric barriers to keep aquatic life away, there’s about a ten-mile radius of water that should be free of anything besides a few small fish her or there.”
“So no risk of being eaten, yay,” Thanh murmured.
“Can you telepathically command the ship?” Brahn asked her.
“I can communicate with it, why?”
“We’ll need a pick up here,” he indicated water to the east of the bank. “The tunnel will lead us to this point.”
“I can have Lorac meet us there. From what Teneras tells me, Dragons can fly simple patterns without a pilot so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“The bond with Lorac is new, will you be able to maneuver them through the upper atmosphere?” Brahn asked.
Thanh stiffened next to me, her little hands curling into fists.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve piloted anything that can fly, I’ll be able to do this too.”
Brahn turned to face her, his lips turned down into a sharp frown.
“We are talking about violent winds that can toss the ship unexpectedly into Dragons who are already going to be on high alert for anything that might harm their babies. Not to mention chunks of ice and rocks in the upper atmosphere. As well as the occasional drone if Sherrod can’t get them decommissioned in time.”
“Hey,” he hissed.
Brahn didn’t even bother acknowledging him, just continued to stare down his nose at my mate.
“This is no time for your pride to —”
“She said she could do it,” I cut in.
He paused.
“She better. Or we’ll be ripped to shreds by those Dragons. The fact that Lorac is a youngling will only get us past them if we pose no threat. And colliding with one of the mothers or the babes will definitely be perceived as a threat.”
She swallowed, a subtle tell that she was nervous. Otherwise, her gaze was as hard as stone and her jaw set in that stubborn line that was usually reserved for proving me wrong. I was almost jealous Brahn was getting it.
“I can do it,” she repeated, her voice menacing now.
“Very well,” He said, turning away from her with a sniff.
I squeezed her hip in encouragement and she relaxed next to me while Brahn took us through the corridor lay out, which would’ve been a headache without his help, weeding out the false turns and strange dead ends. The only thing I didn’t like was how the vault was one of the few underwater.
“What’s the situation with the orbital station, how are you going to access it?” Brahn asked Sherrod.
“I’ve got a portable set up that’ll give me remote access once we’re close enough. I can disable the weapons systems before we reach it. The bank’s defenses require me to be on site though.”
“There’s a command room here,” Brahn pointed to a small room near where we were landing. “Two floors above the vault.”
“Perfect.”
I studied Sherrod; the tone of his voice was off. He may have sounded pleased to everyone else there, but I heard the undertone of frustration.
“I’ll stay with Sherrod, back him up,” I declared.
Thanh frowned at me, and Sherrod’s face became tense.
“That’s not necessary,” he said.
“Yes, it is.”
“If you don’t trust this man —” Brahn began.
“I don’t. Which is why I’m staying with him. Now, let’s finish up. We’ve got work to do before tomorrow.”
Brahn eyed me and then Sherrod, who was shooting a death glare at me. I just crossed my arms and hardened my gaze. This was my job, I was in charge, and if Brahn or Sherrod didn’t like it, that was too damn bad. We were going to do this my way.
“Very well,” Brahn said, and held up a wrist cuff from the bag that had held the respirators. “This will have the layout of the north side of the bank, just in case anyone gets separated. It will also have coms so we can talk to each other. It’s waterproof and impervious to any kind of disruption devices.”
We went over the plan several more times, working out any kinks that came up. Maybe it was a little excessive, but I was nervous. There was something I wasn’t seeing, and because Thanh was involved, I was ten times more nervous than I might’ve otherwise been. Oontash and Sherrod brought in the rest of the gear and I examined every single piece to make sure there were no surprises. When that was done, tasks were assigned to each team member. I was about to dismiss everyone when Mother ran in.
“We’ve got a problem.”
“Of course we do,” I said under my breath.
We all ran with her to the command deck, where Narrou had a scan readout on their screen. In the center was Daedalus Five and around it were at least fifty ships.
“I just received this from one of my spies. Those are Justinian and Octavian Federation ships, and there’s more on the way. Apparently the Justinians have already tried to get to the bank and both their ships were destroyed.”
“I thought they weren’t getting there until the day after tomorrow,” I said.
“Well, they apparently moved up their time table,” Brahn said with a deep frown.
“Someone talked,” Sherrod said through clenched teeth.
“One of my scout ships is missing,” Mother said with a snarl in her tone, “so I’m betting they were captured. If you’re going to do this job, there’s no waiting. I’ve got a call out for my fleet to meet me there now, but not everyone is close by. We’re going to be outnumbered.”
“I can give you ships from my team,” Brahn said. “I’ll com them but it may take them a few hours to get there.”
“How long until we can jump to the planet?” Thanh asked.
“Solar sails are fully charged, we could be there within the hour, as will about ten of my own ships,” Mother replied.
“We’re still outnumbered two to one,” I said.
“That’s a risk we are going to have to take,” she said.
“Mother, that’s —”
“We’ll be fine,” she said. “If the Justinians or Octavians find a way down there, we are fucked, Jax.”
“We could wait, let them crash their ships and deplete their numbers,” Sherrod said.
“We can’t risk one of them actually getting through,” I said. “There’s enough down there for us to worry about as it is.”
“Then we go as soon as we get there,” Thanh said.
“There is a bit of good news,” Mother said. “Bowie’s diagnostic on Lorac showed a rare mutation, a camouflage capability.”
A delighted giggle trilled through the room from Thanh.
“Are you telling me they’re a cloak capable vessel?” she asked.
Mother smiled at her and nodded. Thanh squealed and jumped up and down.
“Best mission souvenir, ever !”
“That will come in handy to get us down to the surface,” Brahn said. “If you can make the ship manifest it.”
Thanh’s eyebrows shot up and I swore under my breath. I knew what that look meant, I’d aggravated it out of her plenty of times.
“Don’t you worry about me,” she said. “You concentrate on your own part of the mission.”
“Alright everyone, let’s gear up and be ready to board Lorac as soon as we fall out of the fade jump,” I said, then pulled Thanh to me. “Don’t show off, please? He’s not worth it.”
She scowled at Brahn’s back and shook her head.
“I really hate that guy.”
My grip on her tightened and I nipped at her ear before whispering, “I’m not sure how I feel about that. You tend to get into bed with handsome people you hate.”
Her lips seized mine and I moaned into her mouth.
“Only you, snookums.” She bit my lower lip. “Only you.”