No Mercy Read online

  Her head fell back against the deck, and she stared up at the falling light beyond the viewport sightlessly, alternately hot and cold as he stroked her toward orgasm. Restless hands found and caressed his braid. He paused mid-lick and pulled away from her. “Don’t pull my hair.”

  Gia almost retaliated by doing exactly that, but darkness returned to his gaze. The silent please filled the small space and something shifted. This wasn’t just about release anymore. The fragile threads of connection wove through her heart and she reached her palm to his face, caressing a whiskered cheek. “Okay.”

  He returned to her, laving her clit while filling her sex with those thick fingers again. Yet it was not enough. She was ready to feel it all, what she’d been missing, craving these last few months. “Come inside me now.”

  She didn’t need to ask twice. Shifting up, Zan poised his cock at her opening and pushed forward, nudging the head between her slick folds. Her shield crackled again as it erased every trace of him from her body even as he moved deeper insider her. He was so thick she felt stretched. He withdrew and she sank her nails into his shoulders. “Don’t stop.”

  “Wasn’t planning on it.” Instead he rocked forward and back, in soft, smooth strokes that stretched her body in a gentle way, lulling her to relax and accept him. Sliding her hand down, she caressed the part of his shaft that hadn’t fit inside her yet.

  His eyes slid shut. “You keep it up and I’m going to come right now.”

  “Do it,” she challenged him, tugging harder until he pushed deeper inside her. With a muttered oath, his control broke and he bucked forward, seating himself all the way into her slick passage. Seeing him lose control, that final push, sent her over, her inner muscles spasming around him. Yelling out his release, he came with short, sharp lunges while her channel bathed him in a fresh tide of orgasm.

  It was only after he pulled out that she realized what had been missing from that cataclysmic release.

  The snap and crackle of her health guard.

  2

  Zan stared unblinkingly at the trickle of his seed running from Gia’s cunt. His jaw clenched as he watched it arc down her pale thigh. The word disaster repeated like a mantra through his brain. Fuck. He’d come on to her because she was supposed to be safe. That marvelous germ shielding, the whole reason he’d propositioned her in the first place, had let them both down in the worst possible way. “What the hell just happened?”

  She sat upright, tapped a small spot on the inside of her elbow. “Shit. My shield malfunctioned.”

  His molars ground together. “Yeah, I got that part. What I meant was, how the fuck did that happen?”

  Gia glared at him, all the passion from moments before converting to her customary prickliness. “Because it’s technology and no technology is one hundred percent flawless. In case you missed it, I can’t exactly go back to Earth for a medical tune-up.”

  Zan cursed beneath his breath as he stared at her, still too shocked to explain the magnitude of this galactic fuckup to her.

  “Would you stop looking at me like that?” Gia shoved him all the way off of her and stood up. “This is bad, but it’s not the end of the universe. It’s the wrong time in my cycle, and as long as you are disease free, we should be in the clear.”

  If only it were so simple. He watched her scurry toward the miniscule sanitary facilities. The sound of running water filled the silence between them as she bent and washed herself. His cock, which had known paradise within her body minutes before, stirred at the carnal display of womanly assets. Glancing at him, she shut the door to block his view. Zan rolled onto his back and rested his head on his interlocked fingers. She might be a self-righteous harpy, but he doubted he’d ever seen a better-looking woman.

  And the sex . . . he’d now knew what a full-on out-of-body experience felt like. If only she came with a mute button. He didn’t want to see her die because of a malfunction, so what were his options? Zan cleared his throat and raised his voice so she could hear him through the partially closed door. “That ain’t what I’m worried about.”

  The water cut off and she emerged, wrapped in a towel. Her green eyes surveyed him scalp to toe. “Why don’t I like the way you said that?”

  Instead of answering he rose to his feet, stretched, did his damndest to paint the picture of nonchalance. A struggle, considering he felt more panic than he had endured in a very long time.

  He sensed Gia was a runner and if he gave it to her straight, she’d probably boot his bare ass planetside and be airborne before he could say nail and bail.

  Instead he cleared his throat, glanced around. “You got anything to drink around here?”

  She blinked. Her mouth opened and then shut like a stunned fish yanked out of water. “Seriously?”

  Scooping up his clothes, he gave her plenty of time to check out his tattoo. At this point he had no better strategy than to get her off balance, maybe stir up a little curiosity about where he hailed from. Distraction would work to his advantage as he soused out her mind-set. “Two things I never joke about—money and liquor.”

  Gia licked her lips, then shook her head so the sharp bob of dark blond hair took flight. She’d cut it short since the last time he’d seen her. The style made her thin face look impish. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll pour the drinks.”

  He heard her mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, Figures it had to happen with him. Too distracted to be insulted, Zan let her have her space while he cleaned himself off and donned his leathers. This was pure knee-to-the-groin, being-lit-on-fire type of hell. What had possessed him to approach Gia in the first place? She hadn’t been aware of him from his spot in the shadows, and even after overhearing her conversation he could have waited until she boarded her craft. Another ship could have taken him to see Gen and Rhys, and he could have been well on his way into orbit by now with the information he’d come for.

  Instead, here he was, working out how best to divulge his most treasured secret to a woman who couldn’t stand him. Most of the time, the feeling was mutual.

  Yet the look on her face when she’d stared out over the purple ocean had resonated within him. A bird shot out of the sky, doomed to never know the freedom of flight again. Yeah, he could relate. And had, especially when she’d made it plain that her delectable little body was in need. Like many of the mistakes he’d made, Zan had thoroughly enjoyed making it, but now he forced himself to grit his teeth and chalk it up to it seemed like a good idea at the time.

  Maybe she’d understand. It took a certain kind of soul to appreciate the stark beauty of space. Zan knew the drive to pit oneself against the challenges of the vacuum, the same way he could appreciate her hot little body. Common ground; it was a place to start. Spacefaring and sex were their cornerstones. He could build something on that and she’d just have to accept that she no longer had a choice in designing it.

  Fully dressed, he moved across the small space to where she slouched in her pilot’s chair, sipping her drink. Another one rested on top of a smooth console. He saw no bed, but knew she lived onboard. Where did she sleep? Picking up the glass he took a sniff and eyeballed her. “Should I worry about poison?”

  She tapped her sidearm, which rested in its holster. “Not as long as my laser pistol’s functioning. I promise, I won’t try to kill you. So long as you don’t say anything too stupid.”

  “Think that highly of me, do you?” Her answer soothed him, because it was one he could respect. He took a swig of the amber beverage and made a face. “Bleck, too sweet.”

  Her green eyes sparkled with a specter of the same emerald flames that had incinerated him earlier. Every gasp and cry had driven him further into madness until he fucked her mindlessly. Such raw passion could start a fire anywhere, even in a vacuum. But how long would it live? Swallowing, he refocused on what she was saying instead of what his mind conjured. “I agree. It was payment for a delivery run I made to one of the distant islands. Not something I would have chosen, but any m
oon in a meteor shower, right?”

  Zan nodded at the spacefarer’s aphorism. “How come you’re using this excellent craft on cargo runs?”

  He could tell his words of praise pleased her even as she bristled with indignation. “How come you fly around inside a living creature you can’t communicate with? Seems foolhardy to me.”

  “Just because my ship’s alive doesn’t mean it’s sentient. It’s like any beast of burden. We nudge it where we want it to go and see to its needs. In turn, it hauls us farther than we could manage our own selves. A symbiotic relationship.”

  She leaned in closer and he inhaled deeply, the scent of honeysuckle and sex stirring his libido as much as the press of her womanly curves against the thin fabric of her flight suit. “But it is sentient. It can talk to Gen, or any other telepath, which makes it more than a pack animal. Your vessel is a living creature with a will of its own. You can’t sit there and tell me you never once worried it would bite the hand that feeds it.”

  Of course he had, though he’d rather tie his prick in a knot than admit it to her. “I reckon if he was going to crap us all out into the void, he would have done so by now. I’ve been captaining that ship for a long time—”

  “How long?” she prompted. He couldn’t tell whether her concern was for him and his crew or the ship. Regardless, her question offered the perfect transition into what they really needed to discuss. Zan never wasted an opportunity.

  He was almost sorry. Here in the aftermath of their passionate storm, talking about ships and space travel, they’d reached an unspoken truce of some sort. Shocked, he realized he’d actually enjoyed a conversation with a woman, a real conversation about things that mattered. And he was about to crush it beneath his boot.

  Setting the glass aside, he faced her. “How old would you reckon I am?”

  Gia’s eyebrows drew together. “I dunno. You’ve got a couple of years on me for sure.”

  He snorted. “That’s an understatement. I’m over a century old.”

  Gia knocked back her drink. Zan had been right, it was too sweet. She liked her liquor like she liked her men, with a rough edge. Staring at him, she wondered what game he was trying to drag her into now. If she were smart, she’d chase him off and not play right into his hands. But she didn’t have anything better to do with herself, and had enjoyed more than enough of her own company for a while. “How nice for you, to be aging so gracefully. Care to share you secret?”

  “No.” He bit the word out as though it pained him. “But I did anyway.”

  Setting her empty glass aside, Gia stared up at him. “I don’t understand.”

  Scrubbing a hand down his face, Zan let out a sigh. “Have you ever heard of the Infinity Pool?”

  Laughter erupted from her, bubbling up from some unknown place inside. She doubled over in breathless chuckles as he stood there. Those golden eyes surveyed her as the giggles shook her shoulders and tears formed in her eyes. Eventually her amusement subsided and she dragged in a deep breath.

  “Zan, I don’t know whether to thank you or shoot you. Did you really think I’d buy into some hokey fountain of youth story concocted by a total space case—?”

  Moving faster than her eye could track, he leaned in, bracketing her head with his arms, essentially pinning her in place. His warm breath fell on her face as he seethed, “Would appreciate you not carrying on so when I’m divulging my riddles to you.”

  The laughter dried up like a puddle in the desert. His proximity should have made her uncomfortable, but between his intense air and the heavy scent of male and sex she wanted to bask in his presence. Desperation was an ugly thing. Forcing her hands to push him away, she squared her shoulders. “Look, let’s say I believe that you really do know the location of the Infinity Pool and you really are over a century old. Why the hell would you tell me about it now?”

  “I reckon it’s better this way, for you to comprehend before the dreams come.” He scrutinized her face, searching for something, though what she had no idea. “When I came inside you, I gave you my memories.”

  Gia blinked. “What?”

  He sighed. “DNA holds memories. Usually just the genetic code for the organism it inhabits. When one bathes in the Infinity Pool, DNA is altered, so cells no longer break down. A side effect is that the DNA holds memories of not just the owner but of anyone who has done the same.”

  Cripes, it sounded plausible. Would he really go so far for a gag? “So you’re telling me you’re immortal?”

  He nodded.

  “And you have the memories of hundreds of people you’ve never met.”

  “Plus a few I have.”

  “And now I have them too?” Gia kept waiting for him to point and call her a gullible sap.

  Instead he shook his head. “No. You just have mine. But that means you now have access to the location of the Infinity Pool.”

  She blinked, truly startled for the first time. Sincere regret was etched in every line of his face. The pirate believed what he said to her was the truth. “That isn’t possible.”

  It was his turn to laugh. “You really gonna sit there and pretend anything is impossible? Gia, you’re a spacefarer. You’ve encountered alien life. You just had sex with alien life. A century ago, your kind didn’t even have proof alien life existed. I know, I was there. You’ve seen the wonders of the universe. Look me in the eye and say what I’m telling you is beyond your ability to reckon.”

  She shoved him away, too riled to sit still any longer. She rose to her feet, then started to pace the small cockpit. “Okay, let’s assume for a second that I accept what you’re telling me is the honest to God truth. That you know the location of the Infinity Pool and have magical memory spooge. Why in the hell would you choose to share that with anyone, let alone a woman you don’t even like?”

  She glanced back in time to see a muscle jump in his jaw. “I didn’t. Your shield was supposed to take care of it.”

  Ouch. Gia visibly flinched at his remark. That freaking hurt. He chose her because of the cool equipment package, not an uncontrollable lust for her. She was a warm body with the right accessories. The fact that she’d picked him for the same reasons was violently shoved aside. “Why would you think my health guard would prevent transfer? How did you even know I had one unless . . . ?” Her gaze flew to his as she connected the dots.

  Zan’s eyes fixed on a spot above her head. He didn’t say anything; let her draw her own conclusion.

  “No. No fracking way. You couldn’t have. You’re telling me you slept with Gen?”

  “It was a mistake,” he murmured. “I didn’t have all the facts.”

  “Like that she was in love with another man?” Gia still couldn’t get her head around it. Gen was as true blue loyal as they came. The idea that she’d hooked up with this bastard space pirate after meeting the love of her life was even more incredible than his story about the Infinity Pool.

  His expression closed down. “It doesn’t matter now anyway.”

  Gia’s mouth fell open. “Oh, my God, you have feelings for her, don’t you!” The accusation came out on a shrill note.

  This was so wrong. She’d unknowingly broken the code of gal pals everywhere. Though it often went unspoken, thou shall not shag thy best friend’s ex was practically commandment number one. She’d never had to worry about it before. Gen had lived like a nun until she met Rhys. “Does Rhys know about this?”

  Zan visibly blanched. “He was there. In spirit anyway.”

  A choked sound escaped Gia. No. Fucking. Way. Sweet, naive Gen had engaged in a threesome? Hot damn. Her guilt was somewhat lessened, but she wasn’t about to blindly accept what spewed from Zan’s mouth as fact until she heard it from the source.

  Sitting back down, her fingers flew over the control panel.

  “What are you doing?” Zan asked as she synced her comm link to the ship’s nav system.

  “Strap in. We’re going to visit some old friends.”

  3

&n
bsp; Shit. Even though Zan had come to this world to see Gen and hopefully enlist her to help with the translation program for his ship, meeting her now was out of the question. Never mind the pure awkwardness of having two women that he slept with discussing his “magical memory spooge,” as Gia had called it, but it would make abducting her much more difficult.

  And he had to take her, to watch her and protect her as well as the location of the Infinity Pool. Factions the universe over would torture her if they caught even a whisper that she might know its location. After all, what prize was more desired than the promise of youth and vitality forever?

  He sat silently as she fired up the port thrusters and the stinger rose gracefully from the ground. Her skill as a pilot was absolutely flawless; she clearly knew her ship and just how to work it. Watching her slender fingers fly over the controls made his cock rise up to press against his leathers. The memory of the way she’d wrapped those fingers around him was as clear as the star-filled sky above. No woman had ever been so bold with him. Even practiced whores kept a weather eye on him, as though expecting him to go mad at any moment. Not Gia though. She might have despised his personality, but she’d revered his body. Perhaps if he handled this well they would do so again, and soon. After all, he’d already divulged his most intimate secrets to her, so why not do so again, and again?

  “Gia,” he spoke low. “You need to take us to my ship.”

  She snorted and kept her gaze locked on the instruments. “You know what I need? The last hour’s worth of information verified before I see to any of your needs. Or better yet, a time machine to go back and unring that particular bell.”

  She obviously wasn’t about to cooperate. Zan sighed, resigned to doing what he must. When she turned away from him, he struck out, grasping her laser pistol and yanking it out of its holster. “Now I’m through asking you nicely. This is the way it’s gonna be. Take the ship into the upper atmosphere.”