Chapter 20
ALLY
Damn, I wish I knew what these symbols meant.
But now she stood at the console, confused by symbols on the controls she needed to pilot this little boat out of there. Ally felt like her luck had run out.
Closing her eyes, she tried to focus. Come on. You can do this.
She thought about her sister, fear for her well-being filling her. I can’t afford any more delays. I need to figure this out.
Opening her eyes, she asked herself for the hundredth time if she was making a mistake. Could she really steal a ship from Lyk and think he’d let her escape? Could she really take on all the forces of Hell by herself?
Letting out a growl of frustration, she looked again at the symbols. “I have to try something,” she murmured, then hit the one that resembled a child’s drawing of the sun.
Half the panel lit up, and she let out a rush of air. Good. I figured out how to turn the power on at least.
Her finger hovered over what she assumed was a direction pad. She could move the ship forward, but until she figured out how to open the bay doors, she didn’t know what to do. But there didn’t seem to be anything on the console in front of her that could stand for the doors.
Maybe they’re automatic. Maybe if I start rolling toward them, they’ll open themselves. “It’s worth a shot.”
She hit the direction pad, apparently with a little too much force, as the ship shot forward. She glanced up, frightened to see that the doors weren’t opening. “Oh no! How do I slow this thing down?”
The doors were approaching, and Ally was about to reverse direction at speed when suddenly they started to move. The bay doors slipped open just before the lifeboat shot out of the ship and into the openness of space.
Ally let out the breath she was holding, then slid to her knees, her heart beating hard enough that it sounded like a drumbeat inside her head.
She was sailing away from Lyk’s ship at a fast clip, maybe too fast. “Shit.”
One of his brothers’ ships was straight ahead, and until she learned to steer, she was on a collision course. Having thought she’d mastered the directional pad, she hit the area that she thought would correct her course. Instead, the ship jolted in the opposite direction, lurching crazily.
The ship was even closer now. Pulling herself back to her feet, Ally struggled to grasp the controls. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”
Suddenly, a pair of hands lifted her by the waist and set her out of the way. Ally let out a squeak of surprise, then realized it was Lyk. He hit a few controls on the console and the ship righted itself and sped past his brother’s ship unharmed.
“What are you doing here?” Ally asked when she’d managed to recover her voice.
“Saving your ass, as usual.” His stance radiated anger. She watched as his fingers were a blur on the console. When he got a course laid in, he turned to her. Lyk crossed his arms over his broad chest and frowned at her. “Well, you want to explain yourself?”
“You first,” she said. “How did you get on this lifeboat?”
“It’s a shuttle,” he said, then rolled his eyes. “It’s my ship. I own this shuttle. Of course, I can get on it.”
“But how did you know I was going to steal it?” Ally instantly regretted her choice of verb, then shrugged it off.
I might as well tell things as they are.
Then she remembered this shuttle was the one with the open door.
“You somehow set me up, leaving the door open so I’d take this one.
But still, how did you know I was going to take one at all? ”
“It’s not like you were that stealthy. My crewman saw you snooping around shortly after I left you.”
“But that doesn’t explain why you let me get away with it then.” Ally pinched her chin in thought. “You could have stopped me at any moment, confined me to quarters and not have gone through all this trouble. So why did you?”
Lyk breathed heavily. “Mayra told me to. She’s an oracle, remember? She said you were going to steal a shuttle and I needed to let you.”
Ally’s brow furrowed. “Mayra? Why would she rat me out?”
“Probably because she wasn’t a fan of you going out and getting yourself killed either,” he grumbled. “Did you really think you’d manage to pilot this shuttle off my ship and all the way to Dazimin without me stopping you?”
It was Ally’s turn to cross her arms over her own chest. “What choice did you give me? I had to do something. Time is running out!”
“My family and I were going to help you, Ally. All you have to do is trust us to figure out the right actions to take.”
“We’re not going down that road again,” she ground out through clenched teeth. Looking at the display where stars were blurring past, Ally asked the only question that mattered. “What now?”
Lyk backed away from the console and threw himself into one of the crew seats. “I don’t know.”
“You… you don’t know?”
He shook his head. “Mayra wouldn’t tell me. She said it might influence the outcome, whatever that means.”
Ally threw herself into the other seat, feeling the weight of the tension between them.
Lyk was clearly upset that she’d tried to run away.
She couldn’t blame him, not really. But she’d also expected him to better understand her point of view.
He said he did, but he couldn’t, not really, if he continued to insist on waiting for the committee to figure out the right actions to take.
They stewed in silence for a few moments, the little shuttle continuing to chug along on its course, until Ally couldn’t stand the tension anymore.
Leaping from her seat, she started pacing.
“I can’t keep wasting time like this!” Pouring all of her exasperation into her tone, she shook her fist in frustration. “Where are we even going?!”
“To Vartik. Although we would have made it there faster if you would have just stayed on my ship.” His tone was bored, but she could sense the heat under his words.
“I don’t want to go to Vartik!”
“And I don’t care what you want!” he roared suddenly, causing Ally to freeze in place.
He rose slowly from his seat, stalking forward with the simmering grace of a large cat. “You’ve spent every moment that we’ve known each other acting like a spoiled child, thinking you know better than everyone else. That ends now.”
Ally swallowed as he crowded into her space. “I’m done putting up with your imperious demands. You’re done giving orders.”
“You aren’t my Captain,” she hissed. His face was now so close she could taste the air coming out of his mouth.
“My ship, my rules,” he said, his eyes filled with a cold light that she hadn’t seen before. Ally only had time to wonder if she’d pushed him too far before his lips captured hers.
This kiss wasn’t like the others. This kiss took what it wanted and demanded her surrender. Ally struggled, but he grabbed her, jerking her into his chest, pinning her against that hard wall of muscle.
She managed to break contact and sucked in a ragged breath. “We shouldn’t do this,” she said, her rational mind fighting through the fog of passion that swirled around them. “Not like this. Please.”
“Now you learn how to ask nicely?” His face was almost feral, his words coming out on a snarl. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but too little, too late.” With those words, he lifted her up, forcing her legs around his waist and pressing her against the wall.
His mouth was on hers again, ravishing her lips, and suddenly, Ally couldn’t think. The tendril of fear that snaked its way into her belly was ignored once the onslaught of his desire overwhelmed her.
“You’re so demanding, so impatient,” he murmured against the skin at her neck before laving it with his tongue, then playfully biting her shoulder, making her cry out.
“Why don’t you realize that I’m always going to try and give you want you want?
And I’m always going to protect you, whether you want it or not. ”
“Shut up and kiss me, pirate,” she growled, not wanting to talk about the emotions that were trying to tie her to him.
His smile was smug before he seized her lips again. Ally wanted to lose herself in that kiss. She wanted to forget Dazimin, forget her helplessness. She wanted to turn off her mind and embrace sensation.
And what a sensation!
He made quick work of the coveralls after he managed to get her boots off, then lifted her so that she was once again pressed between him and the wall.
For once, she didn’t struggle at being held fast. Ally wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life as he bent his head to tease her breasts.
When he came up for air, his eyes locked onto hers. “I’m going to claim you, and I’m going to pleasure you until you forget your own name.”
Her breath caught in her chest, and Ally bit her lip, her eyes going half-lidded when she heard his ragged intake of breath. Burying his face in her neck, he sucked gently at her skin before nibbling the sensitive lobe of her ear.
Ally’s eyes slid closed as she concentrated on the bliss that radiated from every nerve ending. She felt him rip her panties off her body, and her eyes flew open, the enormity of what was about to happen hitting her suddenly.
She’d always told herself that she was waiting for love, but she told herself now that it wasn’t important. She didn’t need to love Lyk. She could separate sex and love, couldn’t she?
Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe Kara was right. Maybe you love him already.
Ally forced down the voices inside her, concentrating on the moment. Focusing on the feeling of his body pressed against hers. That was all that mattered right now. Forgetting everything except her lust.
He placed his cock at her entrance and Ally almost told him. I’m a virgin.
Then he slid his shaft back and forth, flicking her sensitive nub with the tip, and she decided against spilling her secret. Ally couldn’t risk his stopping this delightful torment. She trusted him in one thing, his ability to make love to her.
She squirmed against him and he chuckled. She could feel his warm breath on her shoulder. “You’re so eager,” he murmured. “I can’t wait any longer to claim every inch of you.”