Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,57

he needed her, too.

“Get her to cover, I’ll deal with these assholes.” Vic was kicking weapons away from their opponents and ensuring they were well and truly dead in the most efficient way possible - a blaster bolt to the head.

When the first shot fired, Xori looked toward the sound, but Ward turned her so she couldn’t see what Vic was doing. He didn’t want her exposed to anything that ugly. “Eyes on me, little star.”

She looked up at him, her silver eyes bright with an almost manic energy.

“I knew that if I followed those males, I’d find you.”

“You…” He groaned. “You went looking for trouble because you thought we’d be in the middle of it? What if you’d gotten hurt?”

She blinked, then jerked away from him with panic in her eyes. “Hurt? Veth! Let me go! I’m dangerous.” She pointed to her neck. “There’s a chip. A bomb. You both need to stay back. I don’t know how big the blast radius is.”

Fraxx, he’d been so eager to get to her he’d forgotten one of the mission parameters. He pulled the device Lt. Caldwell had given him out of the protective pouch at his waist, activated it, and shoved it into her hands. “Hold this. Do not let go. Do you understand? If you drop this, you die. It will block any signal they try to send to the chip.”

She nodded once. “You knew they’d do this to me?”

“We didn’t. Nova Force did. They’re here, too.” He tugged her into his arms and kissed her hard. It was a foolish risk, but the armor and vac-suit put too many layers between them, and he needed to feel her touch, even if it was only for a moment. He had to be sure she was really here.

Xori moaned and rose on her toes, her arms twining around his neck as she kissed him back with equal fervor, mouth parting, tongue twining with his. He cradled her close, his fingers tangling in her hair even though he couldn’t feel it through his gloves. She was sweet, and warm, and real, and his world was a little lighter just because she was near him.

The too-small suit suddenly shrank another three sizes as a wave of need crashed over him, firing up the most primal parts of his brain. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her off to somewhere safe. Then tear off her clothes and make love to her for a week.

“Hold that thought,” He murmured against her lips when sanity returned enough for him to remember where they were.

“And the blocker thingy,” she said, holding up the hand still gripping the device he’d handed her.

“And that.” He swung her into his arms and ran back to the shuttle, painfully aware that she had no protection from incoming fire. The shapeless gray shipsuit she wore wouldn't stop a sneeze, never mind a blaster bolt.

Vic made it there ahead of him, almost tearing Xori out of his hold the moment they got close. He kissed her hard, and Ward grinned as he recognized the same burning need for her that he’d felt.

“What the fraxx are you doing here, blossom?” Vic demanded when he came up for air.

“Looking for you. I figured this was faster than waiting to be rescued.”

Vic made the same strangled groaning noise that Ward had. “You…”

“I know,” Ward agreed. “We’ll have to discuss that, later.”

The doors opened again and another wave of identical men charged through. “How many of these clones are there?” Vic growled in frustration as he returned fire.

“Fifteen.” Xori replied.

“What?” both he and Vic asked at once. “How can you be sure?”

“Because I asked.”

“And they told you?” Vic’s incredulity matched his own.

“Well, yes. I’m very easy to talk to.” Xori’s voice was bright and brittle.

He ducked back into cover to check on her. She was standing behind them, arms wrapped around herself, her lips turned up in a tight, adrenaline-fueled smile.

“What else can you tell us?”

Her brow creased, and he guessed she was trying to think clearly. Not an easy thing to do while being shot at. “Oh! Vivian!”

“One sec.” He leaned out and picked off another of their attackers. They had no cover, which made it easier than it could have been.

“Vivian is—” The rest of what she said was eclipsed by a piercing alert.

“Decompression warning! Shuttle or doors?” Vic asked via their internal channel.

“Shuttle would be smarter.”

He dropped the last of the clones and turned back to Xori. “That’s a decompression