Crouching low, he closed the distance between them. "Thank you."
"Any time, big guy." She clapped him on the arm as she skimmed the bodies around them. "Is this all of our party crashers?"
"Think so." Still wary, he went to search the body closest to him. "They're a little more high-tech than our last batch of friends. These came with short-distance radios."
Given the magnetic field here that played havoc with electronics, they'd have to have some serious credit invested in those radios for them to work. "How many?"
"Dozen. I was trying to get them farther away from your position when they cornered me. Told you this place sucks for defense."
"Sorry." Sumi holstered her weapon. "You're a little hard to move when you're unconscious."
Instead of being offended, he actually grinned. "So I've been told. Least you didn't wrench my arm out of its socket trying."
Her gut clenched at the thought of how much that would have to hurt. "Happen to you often?"
"More times than Nyk wants to admit."
"Nyk?"
"Thia's father."
It was the first time he'd used Nykyrian's name with her, and he was way too cautious, even wounded, to let it slip out. Dancer was learning to trust her.
Sumi didn't know why, but that sent a rush of warmth through her. When he turned, she saw the blood on the back of his shirt. Worried about him, she went over and lifted the hem to investigate the blood's source.
He tugged it down, out of her hands. "What are you doing?" he asked in an agitated tone.
She gave him a droll stare. "Oh, I don't know... I was considering molesting you on top of these grotesque dead bodies. Ripping your clothes off and running my hands all over that long, hard body until you beg for mercy. What do you say, babe? Want to add something exotic to your diet?"
He gaped so widely, it exposed his fangs.
Laughing, Sumi tsked at him. "Oh my God. So that's what stark terror looks like on that gorgeous face. Who knew?" She winked at him. "Relax, sweetie. I was joking. Just wanted to check your wounds. See if you pulled the stitches out."
"Oh." He finally relaxed as he flipped her rifle up to hold it over his shoulder. "Only a few."
A few?
"Dancer!"
"What?" he asked in an equally irritated tone. "If you'd cauterized it, I wouldn't have done it."
Oh yeah, this was so her fault. "I was trying to save you the pain of a burn wound."
"Pain is pain. Does it really matter if it's from a burn or a stitch?"
He had a point, but she didn't want to admit it. "How are you feeling?"
"Hungry."
She arched a brow at the unexpected answer. "Killing humans makes you hungry?"
"Killing, breathing, bathing, basically everything makes me hungry. Syn swears I'm still in my growing phase."
Sumi snorted. One day, she really wanted to meet this Syn. "It's good to have Your Snarky Highness back. I've missed you."
When she started away, he gently caught her arm and held her by his side. Unsure of what he needed, she stared up into those haunting, eerie eyes. He looked as if he wanted to say something to her. Instead, he bit his lip then placed his cheek against hers in the tenderest of gestures.
Hauk closed his eyes and savored the warmth of her skin on his and the scent of her hair as he fought the craving inside to kiss her. It was absolutely searing.
More than that, he wanted to bury himself deep inside her body. To have her do exactly what she'd teased. To ride him until he begged her for mercy.
Stand down, soldier. You belong to another.
Yeah, but Dariana didn't want him. Not for anything other than target practice.
Grinding his teeth, he forced himself to step back. But as he did so, he made the mistake of looking at Sumi. The hunger in her eyes matched his own. More than that, it stoked the heat in his body to a frightening level.
One kiss...
He could already taste it.
Don't! Dariana waits for you.
But it wasn't Dariana he wanted. She had been Keris's love, never his. And in this moment, he totally understood why Keris had been willing to slit the throat of any male who glanced at her. Why Fain had denied them all to be with Omira.
He felt the same way for Sumi. A fierce protectiveness to keep her safe from all others.
The memory of the concern on her face when she'd found him pinned down and the way she'd handled herself in the fight...
He would kill to have the honor of lying inside her.
Just once.
But he knew better than to let such thoughts tempt him. That path led him straight to death.
Sumi held her breath as she waited for Dancer to deliver the heated kiss his eyes promised her. Never once in her life had she felt this kind of craving for any male. All she wanted was to bury her hands in his braids and straddle him until neither of them could walk without limping.
Kiss me...
Instead, he blinked twice then went to review their attackers. That aggravated her enough that she actually kicked the assassin's body at her feet.
Damn, stupid Andarion customs! It was so unfair that she didn't dare encroach on a male it was obvious Dariana had no intention of accepting. Ever. She didn't believe for one second that the bitch would make good her promise to take him.
She had no doubt that Dariana would find a way to turn him away again.
You're a League assassin, Sumi. Remember that. She was here to hurt him, not straddle him.
Yeah.
Even more frustrated, she kicked the assassin's legs again, just for spite.
Dancer flipped one of the bodies over to search the man's pockets.
"Incas?" she asked.
Nodding, Dancer moved to search another body. "Who are these bastards? Why are they coming for me now?"
"I don't know." She sighed as she scanned their civilian clothes. "But I know The League wouldn't do this."
"They would if I gave them cause." He clicked his tongue teasingly. "But I'm not quite that stupid. At least not yet."
She didn't comment. As she searched the body at her feet, she froze. His armband had a receiver on it.
Was that...
Frowning, she pulled it off to study it and see if her suspicions were right. She angled it in different directions to pinpoint what it was tracking.
Sure enough, it went straight to Hauk.
Every time.
"Dancer?"
He faced her with a harsh grimace. "Why are you using a name you know annoys me?"
"Bitch about it later. I have something more important." She handed him the tracker.
He scowled at it as he realized the same thing she had. "Shit."
"Yeah. They're definitely tracking you."
And if this one set of assassins had a trace on him, others most likely did too. Or if they didn't, they could hone in on this frequency.
Dancer angled it toward the cave where the kids were hiding, then to her. As before, it only pointed to him. His frown deepened as he shook his head. "This makes no sense. I'm not tagged. I would have known had I been implanted... unless..." He handed her the tracker then began disrobing.
Oh, hello...
She definitely liked this new turn of events.
Heat scalded her cheeks at the sight of all that rippling muscled flesh as he unwound all the leather straps from his arms and braces and then dropped his shirt to his feet.
Dear gods. Even scarred, he was a fierce, fabulous male.
His gaze met hers expectantly.
What did that look mean? Was it an invitation? Oh yeah, baby. Gimme!
Her throat suddenly dry, she couldn't think. All she could do was gape.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well what?"
"Is it in my clothes or my body?"
Ah... so that was why he'd given her this show. A slow smile curved her lips as a very naughty thought went through her mind. "Maybe we should remove your pants to be sure. What d
o you think?"
He laughed, flashing a bit of fang at her. "This is serious, Sumi."
"As am I," she mumbled as she moved closer to him. "We really should be very thorough. Just in case."
But he wasn't so accommodating.
Pouting, she scanned him. The signal strengthened. She aimed it to his clothes and it lessened. "Bad news, big guy. It's not your clothes."
Using the tracker, she ran it up and down his back to see where the signal was strongest. "It seems to be right in the center of your spine." She put her finger on the exact location. "Could it be your League chip reactivated?"
Thanks to his friend Nykyrian, who'd dug his tag out of his own body the day he quit, The League now embedded them in the spines of their assassins. The only way to remove them was with a surgeon, and any surgeon who removed a League tag was to be executed without trial.
"No. They pulled it out when I was discharged." He growled in frustration.
"Maybe someone shot you?"
"Maybe. They do do that a lot." A tic worked in his jaw as he bent to retrieve his shirt. He pulled it on, but didn't fasten it. "We've got to get to a subspace transmitter. Did any of them have a link on them?"
She shook her head. "Everything I found was short range."
He pulled a link out of his pocket and tried to use it, then cursed. "We're still blocked from getting a signal. But..." He glanced away.
"But what?" she prompted.
He hesitated before he answered. "There is an abandoned base about a day's walk from here. Even with the satellites out of range, it should be able to transmit. And it should have an impressive armory."
She detected a thick note of dread in his voice. "Why don't you want to go there?"
"It's where Thia's mother was murdered."
CHAPTER 13
W
hen Dancer started back for the cave where the kids were hiding, Sumi saw his limp.
"Are you hit?"
"It's fine."
"Dancer!" She pulled him to a stop.
Leaning down, he pressed his forehead to hers. It was an Andarion expression of affection. One made even more tender when he laid his fingers against her cheek. "I am fine, Sumi. Now that I know I'm tagged, I'm a threat to all of you. I need you to get the kids and walk to Aksel's base. Immediately."
Oh yeah, right. Was he out of his mind?
"What if you're hurt worse? What if the poison --"
"If you worry about every what if that might befall you, your fears will paralyze you. I assure you, I've been through much worse than this."
"Alone?"
"Alone." Stepping back, he rubbed her on the arm. "Now go. Take Illyse with you. I need the three of you safe to do what I must. Will you do that for me?"
Every instinct she had screamed out against his wishes. Yeah, okay, while she had the physical skills and expertise, she mentally sucked at being an assassin. She always had. Ruthless cruelty had never been part of her personality. She'd killed the first time for self-defense only. And while the Overseer's court had deemed it overkill, it hadn't been. She'd been the one battered. And Avin had been the one to go for her father's old blaster first.
Terrified of his intent, she'd hit him with a lamp, bit his hand, and taken the blaster from him. Had he backed off, she would never have fired it. She'd told him to leave. Begged him to, point of fact.
Curling his lip, he'd laughed at her and her fear. "I know you're not going to pull that trigger. But bitch, when I get it from you, I promise you, I will. Then I won't have to worry about you or that bastard you're carrying holding me back from my dreams."
When he'd lunged at her, Sumi had closed her eyes and let the blast fly. Honestly, she hadn't meant to kill him. She'd never shot a blaster before. Her hands shaking, she'd aimed for his shoulder and blasted his head instead.
To this day, she couldn't get the sight of him lying dead in her flat out of her mind. But that was nothing compared to the kills The League had forced her to make after that.
Every time she'd taken a life, she'd lost more of her soul.
She wasn't like the ones Dancer ran with who didn't flinch at death. She couldn't stand it. And the last thing she wanted was to leave Dancer wounded and on his own.
Hauk paused as he saw in her hazel green eyes her reticence to desert him. Her concern for him made his heart ache. No one had ever hesitated to put him in harm's way before. And for the first time in his life, he was beginning to understand his friends and their devotion to their spouses. Why they were so willing to risk everything to make them happy.
That rancid fear in the gut of returning to an existence where you lived without their smiles lighting up the innocuous moments that made up any given day...
He totally understood Nykyrian's words to him before he'd left for this hell-bent quest. Why his friend preferred the mad chaos of his current life over the peace in his past.
Gods, how he wanted that with her.
But it could never be.
"I won't be harmed, Sumi. I promise."
She narrowed her eyes on him. "Don't make me have to come back here and kick your hulking ass. I am a trained assassin, you know?"
He smiled at her anger. She was a fierce little mouse, indeed. "I know."
When he started away, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back toward her. He thought they were under attack again, until she buried her hand in his braids and led his lips to hers.
Fire erupted through his entire body as he tasted her warmth for the first time, and her tongue teased his. His head spun at the sweetest tenderness he'd ever known. Growling in the back of his throat, he deepened the kiss, taking great care not to hurt her with his fangs or strength. His head swam with pleasure that left him ragged and wanting before her. Exposed.
Completely pliant.
Sumi trembled as he enveloped her in his arms and pressed her fully against his hard body. Her breasts were flush to his chest. She ran her hands over his hard, sculpted ribs to his muscular back, taking care not to brush against his wound. He was absolutely humongous. Harder than steel. Fierce. And hotter than hell. For a male who'd never been kissed before, he was incredible at it.
His breathing ragged, he nipped at her lips with his fangs before he finally pulled back to stare down at her. "You shouldn't have done that."
"I know. I'm sorry." But not as sorry as he'd be should Dariana ever find out. Guilt stabbed her hard. Please don't get hurt because of me. Horrified over what she might have done to him, she placed her hand over his lips. "Please tell me you won't be harmed for this."
Hauk couldn't answer that without lying. As part of their unification, he would be asked if he'd ever tasted another female during his pledge time. He'd be honor bound and under oath to tell the truth.
Dariana would have a fit when she learned of it. There was no telling what part of his body she'd demand as restitution.
But there was nothing to be done to correct this. He couldn't change it. As with all things, all he could do was deal with the repercussions when they came for him.
Hauk brushed his thumb over Sumi's lips and winked at her. "Don't worry, mia." Reluctantly, he pulled her arms from around his bare skin and stepped out of them.
Yet what he really wanted to do was carry her into a secluded corner and taste more of her. To lose himself in the warmth of her body until he was too sore to continue on.
Damn assassins. When he got his hands on more of them, they would feel the full weight of his displeasure over having to separate from his family and Sumi.
"We need to hurry before more are sent."
She nodded. "Any idea who's behind this?"
He laughed at her question as he gathered more weapons and ammunition from the bodies. "I'm on the hit list for more than two dozen nations. Then there's all the assholes who hate me. That list is endless."
Sumi could imagine, given how lethal he could be. Still, the list might give them some idea as to who would pay this kind of money for his life. "Who's a
t the top of it?"
"Your boss. Kyr Zemin. Psycho cyclops bastard. You can't really miss him in a crowd."
She ignored his acerbic description. "Why is he your number one? What did you do?"
Squinting up at her, he tucked the weapons into a pack. "Showed him multiple times that in a fight between an Andarion and a Phrixian, the Andarion always wins."
She arched her brow at that. Dancer wasn't bragging. He'd said it very matter-of-factly. And it spoke a lot for his skill level. She'd seen the commander spar enough to know that even with no depth perception and a serious handicap on that eye, he was still a lethal opponent. She could only imagine how much more lethal he'd been without his current physical limitations. "Personal grudge?"