delicate little flower,” she hissed, yanking herself from his grasp. “I’ve had a blade against my throat before. More times than I can count.”
His lips compressed. He hadn’t asked her about her past, but now he found himself curious. Where had she come from? What had her life been like before… from her words and manner it had obviously been violent, but the very thought angered him.
“Females should not be brought to harm,” he started and she whirled on him.
“Yeah, maybe that’s true for Latharian fe… women. Do you know what this means?” she hissed and pointed at her check.
“No.”
He hadn’t missed the scar there. He’d originally assumed it was because she was religious, perhaps a sign of the god or goddess she worshiped. Her words blew that out of the sky, though.
“It’s the sign of the Tazvarth gang.” Her expression was hard as she looked at him. “The most violent, brutal gang on Talax-Four.”
He nodded. “And that sign means you belong to a male in this gang?”
She barked out a laugh. “Bloody Lathar and your claiming shit. I belong to no man. This sign means I am Tazvarth.”
Her chin rose, her expression as she met his eyes challenging.
“I passed my initiation when I was little more than sixteen. I’ve been a ganger most of my life, running the rackets on the streets. Until they caught us hitting a food convoy and put me in Mirax Ruas…”
She laughed bitterly and spread her arms. “You are looking at a bona fide convict, one of the most dangerous humans in the galaxy and sentenced to death for her crimes.”
He watched her levelly. It would be too easy to bite back, but her anger wasn’t at him. He didn’t know who or what had hurt her, but someone had. That much was obvious.
“Good, then that means I can count on you.” He nodded toward the shuttle behind her. “We need to clear those rocks to get in. The door is jammed.”
“When you said you could count on me,” Indra huffed an hour later as they cleared away the last of the rocks. “I didn’t think you meant to put me to work as a hard laborer.”
He slid her a glance from under his hair as he offered her the water bottle from the pack. “I know what I’d rather put you to work as.”
“Well, isn’t that just like a man? One-track mind.”
She barked out a laugh, taking the bottle from him. He watched as she took a good swallow, his need to protect her warring with admiring the way her breasts moved under her tank top.
He blinked, plastering an innocent look on his face as she handed the bottle back. “I merely meant I would like to put you to work teaching me about humans. Why?” He tilted his head curiously. “What did you think I meant?”
Her expression froze, somewhere between laughter and mortification. Then she growled, the visceral sound doing things to him that should be illegal. She stalked toward him, but he didn’t back down, letting her get right up into his personal space. This close, it was hard to miss how tiny she was compared to him, even if her attitude did make her seem much larger than life at all other times.
“Well, I rather thought you’d like to put me to work learning… other things,” she murmured, her voice husky and low.
His heartbeat stuttered as she drew a line down the center of his chest, hooking a finger under his belt to pull him closer. “You think last night was everything I know? Baby… we’ve only just scratched the surface.”
Holy Lady of battle herself.
Just like that, Nyek found himself caught by his own trap. Swallowing, he looked down at her, his voice raspy with need when it emerged. “I intend to discover all your secrets,” he warned. “Every single one.”
She winked and stepped back, bending down to look into the dark hole they’d created. “After we find this blasted AI. Where should it be?”
“You are not going in there,” he told her when she dropped to the metal they stood on and made to wriggle inside. “There might be predators hiding in there.”
She paused in her movements and looked up at him. Pointedly, she glanced at his shoulders and then at the size of the hole again.
“Sure thing. Want me to find you some lube? Because that’s the only way you’re fitting through there.”
His jaw worked. She had a point. He knew she did. He just didn’t want to