I want to fill my palms with the globes of her ass, their shape mesmerizing as she moves across the small space. Her limping gait pulls a scowl from me. I hate knowing someone else hurt her.
Yanking my gaze away from her delicious, slim frame takes effort, but I turn to Steil and force out a question.
"How much time do we have?"
The omegas keep their distance from me, my expression and harsh tone no doubt warning them of my instability. Add in the blood trailing from my multiple wounds and the rage simmering behind my breast, and I no doubt provide a terrifying sight.
"A few minutes. No vehicles in the area, but they know we're here."
The female sitting in front of him holds her head high despite the acrid stench of fear wafting from her. She flinches when he sprays her thigh but nods her thanks when he tells her he's finished.
"Are we stopping to transfer them to our vehicle?"
"Yes, once they're free of trackers."
Satisfied with the plan, I turn my senses to the back corner and watch as Keziah murmurs into the youngling's ear. With her arms wrapped around the girl's frame, she rocks back and forth in a motion so soothing I long to feel her give me such attention.
The younger omega returns the embrace for a long moment before pulling away and taking a brave step toward Fek. Keziah pivots and offers the next woman the same attention, her haunted expression flicking through relief as the lighter skinned female agrees to getting her tracker removed.
My instincts demand we move faster. I grit my teeth and hold in the profanities building in my mind. Meeting my omega's gaze, I snap an invisible line of urgency to her, surprised when she nods and gathers the last two females to her sides. A few words later and they stand together, walking as one toward me.
She leads them to within three feet of my bent knees before the two terrified humans refuse to move any further.
When Steil and Fek shift to stand, the females freeze in horror.
"No. Wait. Sit, please," Keziah begs.
My hackles rise, rage coloring my vision as my omega speaks so sweetly to other alphas.
Never have I wanted to tear my teammates limb from limb, but a few soft words from this human, and there's nothing I wouldn't do to ensure she offers me and only me those sweet morsels of temptation.
They sit.
"Gric."
All the blood in my body rushes to my shaft as her lush lips form my name.
"Take out their trackers."
I snatch a second extractor from Steil's outstretched palm and lean forward. In tandem, I press the first stage over their insertion sites, waiting the required time for the devices to numb the area and open the wound further. A lift, press of a button, and rotation later and the trackers clink into the extractor. Another button press and twist of my wrists and the spray numbs their wound while the trackers get crushed within the chamber.
I toss Steil his extractor before tucking mine back into my belt.
The transporter slows and jerks to a halt.
When I rise to my feet and reach for Keziah, she aims bottomless brown orbs at me and tightens her hold on the females on either side of her. My heart pauses at the fierceness in her depths.
"I will help them. Leave me be."
Incredulity fills me as she leads them to the side, intending to skirt around me.
I snatch her up and cradle her to my chest. The other humans scream and scurry away.
"Move to the other vehicle. Now."
I snarl the last word, stretched beyond my limits. They hurry to obey, struggling to jump from one cargo space to the other despite the transporters being close to each other.
Lyc's red scales seem to float over the sand as he strides from one cab to the other. Fek and Steil help the smaller females across the gap, their masks buffering enough of the pheromones to limit my teammates' reactions.
Maybe if I'd have put on my mask before engaging the enemy, this slip of an omega wouldn't have me so ensnared, but I cannot change the past.
Even if I could, I wouldn't. This dark beauty pulls me deeper under her spell, her silent strength and fierce need to help others endearing me to her.
The denial I clung to upon our first meeting no longer exists.
This human female may be too fragile and tiny for a Stexan, but I intend to make her mine.
I step from one vehicle to the next, ignoring the silent angst seeping from the body in my arms, and settle onto the bench. My horns scrape the ceiling, and the seat barely holds me, but the slim omega in my lap erases every ounce of discomfort created by the cramped space.
On the other hand, my cock suffers, pinched within my suit and yearning for her wet heat. I ignore it, letting my tail wrap around her ankle as I reorganize my priorities.
For years, I've filled my days with fighting. It was the only time I didn't have to restrain myself. After decades of practicing control over my deadly size, my will should be stronger than iron. I pull my mental strength around me and gird my defenses against my natural alpha instincts. I will not let them take control and repeat our first meeting.
Keziah will be mine.
It may take time, since she's so tiny. I don't want to break her.
I bury my hand in her hair, loving how it springs up around my fingers.
She turns wary eyes up to me before looking away. I block her view with my arm, wanting all of her attention on me and only me.
After a few tense seconds, a crease forms between her brows.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because you're mine."
Her expression tightens further as she pulls her soul away from mine. She doesn't move to leave my lap, but I feel her attempt to shut me out.
"I am a person, not property. No one owns me. Not the men my father sold me to, and not you either."
Her voice washes over me, the few short sentences the most I've heard her speak, yet the fierce undertone fills me with awe. How can such a miniscule thing hold so much self-assurance?
I can't help the chuckle vibrating through my chest as her words sink in past my emotions.
"No one could buy what we have with credits, but I own you all the same."
Anger tightens her jaw and squints her eyes, but she shocks me by thinking before she reacts.
"And what do you think we have? All you have given me is pain and shame."
I draw circles on her scalp with my fingertips and slide my tail further up her leg, testing the slope of her calf and teasing the back of her knee. She jumps, her expression softening before snapping back to wariness.
"We're lifemates."
She doesn't react.
Fek does, though. His laugh gives way to coughing when Steil sends him a right hook.
"You shouldn't have mocked Craize. Fate always gets payback," Fek manages between rubbing where Steil hit him and chuckling.
"Then you must be next. Heckle me again, garish Komu'god, and I'll probably get to return the favor tomorrow," I say, enjoying how quickly he sobers at my words.
"What are lifemates?"
My gaze snaps to Keziah. I search her eyes and sigh, annoyed at how ignorant humans can be.
Steil speaks, but I don't allow Keziah to turn toward him.
"Raeni, Craize's mate, didn't know about lifemating either. She thought it was an alien thing."
His last sentence, though delivered drier than the desert, pulls a response from my omega. Her muscles tense and pupils shrink. The other females make perturbed sounds and shuffle around.
"Aliens? Like from outer space?"
"Yes."
She recovers quicker than the other omegas, looking me dead in the eye as she responds.
"I suppose all demons must come from somewhere."
Her response cuts deep, releasing equal parts hurt and humor. I almost throw my head back and roar in laughter, but resort to chuffing in mirth so I don't poke holes in the transporter with my horns.
"Tiny human, demons come in all shapes and sizes. I just happen to be the biggest one in this galaxy."
She tries to hold herself rigid, but I feel the hairs on her arms raise and hear her quickened breathing. My rumbles affect her, whether she's aware of it or not.
I lean down and capture her lips in an unexpected kiss, giving in to temptation for just a moment. She's too sweet to deny myself the pleasure of a simple kiss, yet when I sweep my tongue between her teeth, I can't find the strength to pull away.
My soul yearns to connect with hers, just as my cock craves to invade her body in the most fundamental way possible.
A low hum fills the air, my pleasure leaking from my chest as she melts in my arms. I skim my tail further up her leg, running it along where she clamps her thighs together until her skirt stops me.
Kneading her scalp distracts me from my attempts to reach the juncture of her thighs, her swift inhale sending a thrill up my spine.
I want to find her every erogenous zone and stroke them, just to discover what other noises she makes. She shifts in my lap, pressing her bottom against my trapped cock as I massage her scalp.
Lost in the luscious promise of her body, I forget about our surroundings. I block out everything, focusing solely on coaxing my omega into courtship.
Steil's outburst jolts me out of her spell.
"Shit. We have incoming. Again."
I jerk my senses to the desert, snarling in fury as I hear the engine of a Sky-Flyer. Lifting my head, I address Steil.
"Stay or jump?"
His scowl roams over the group. We'll be without cover or supplies in the middle of the desert if we jump, but the transporter is too big of a target. If we stay, the Sky-Flyer will either blow us to smithereens or take out the engine and capture us.
"Jump."
Dread pools in my gut as adrenaline lifts my spirits.
"Guess I'll go first, since I'll be the easiest for the females to find. Plus, I have a reputation to uphold. Demons lurk in the shadows, right?"
Steil's soft huff of exasperation gets drowned out by Fek's groan of annoyance. The sounds end as my teammates kick into business mode.
Clicking on his communicator, Steil relays the plan to those in the cab as Fek opens the back hatch. The vehicle slows but doesn't stop.
"Wait, we can't do this," Keziah says, pushing against my chest.
"We must."
I turn my attention to the mass of omegas.
"If you stay in here, you die. There's a Sky-Flyer on the way, and the transporter is too big of a target. One shot and it'll explode."
Fear and panic fill the cargo bay.
Steil tempers it with a few words, giving them a task to accomplish.
"Gric here is your beacon. Jump out and run to him. We'll head east to the mountains and find shelter."
I stroke Keziah's arm, drawn to the silky-smooth flesh, and hold in a sigh as I come to terms with having to release her. My soul screams in agony over the thought, but I give myself comfort by thinking about the future.
She'll be in my arms again soon.