21. Andi

21

ANDI

A ndi changed into a new outfit that had been left for her while she waited for her partner to get cleaned up. It was a soft blue sleeping gown that was cut low in the front, of course—the Delta Salacions seemed to love showing off their breasts for some reason.

As she pulled it over her head and tried in vain to get it to cover her nipples, Andi thought to herself that it probably counted as one of the "gifts" Queen Pantyitch had used to claim they owed her a gift in return. Too bad about that, since they were leaving tonight and taking her prize "stud" with them.

Andi just hoped they could get to the milking room and free Commander Kier without running into any of the guards. She thought it would be possible if they were careful and there didn't seem to be any guards in the milking room itself.

She'd seen what looked like a back door at the far end of the milking room. If her sense of direction wasn't wrong, it should lead right out near the docking area. And since Thrax could fly anything with wings, as he put it, they ought to be home free as soon as they stole one of Queen Pantyitch's ships.

Thrax…Andi had been avoiding thinking of what he'd told her. God, to think that he'd been captured and tortured and abused when he was just a teen—it made her sick to think about it. Not to mention angry when she thought of Mistress Stoneheart—who was aptly named, in Andi's opinion.

That evil bitch! How dare she do such a thing to a helpless child?

It made Andi wish she could go back in time and stop the whole thing from happening…or at least comfort the young Thrax and tell him none of it was his fault. She'd wanted to tell her partner that—to let him know that she didn't think any less of him, but it had been clear he was finished talking. It was also clear that he was ashamed of what had been done to him…and the things he had been forced to do to survive.

Andi wished there was something she could do for him to make him feel better. Some way to ease the ache inside him. Now that she knew about his past trauma, a lot of the way he'd been acting on this mission began to make sense. The strange way he had zoned out when she put the tail in him, for instance…and the way he kept slipping and calling her "Mistress." Obviously he had been reliving past trauma.

It made Andi feel terrible to realize that—she never would have agreed to put the tail in if she'd known about his past. She just wished that Thrax had felt like he could tell her about it before. Well, maybe he would talk to her more now that it was out in the open.

The two of them had grown a lot closer on this mission, she reflected. They had admitted there was more to their relationship than just friendship and a good partnership and they had gotten more physical—more sexual—than she had ever dreamed they would. Honestly, Andi didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

On one hand, there was no rule on the Mother Ship against dating coworkers. But on the other hand, Thrax was a Hybrid and they usually couldn't Bond a woman to them. Andi didn't know how necessary a Soul Bond was—she'd never had one of course. But she knew that the Kindred considered them to be absolutely essential and didn't feel like any kind of marriage or "Joining" as they called it was complete without one.

Listen to you, she scoffed at herself. Thinking about marriage already when the two of you have barely established that you feel something besides friendship for each other.

But honestly, it was the only option with Kindred. They didn't do the friends with benefits thing very well—mostly because a lot of them couldn't make love to a woman without at least trying to Bond her to them. Though a few could—she remembered Thrax saying that he could have sex with a woman—even knot her—and not worry about having to Bond because he would also have to bite her and inject his essence in order to complete the process.

Just the thought of that—of having her partner's big, muscular body covering her own as he thrust his long, thick shaft inside her and pierced her throat with his fangs made Andi feel hot and bothered.

Stop it—stop thinking about that, she told herself fiercely. Now isn't the time to be horny—you need to concentrate on completing the mission. Once it's done and everyone is safely back on board the Mother Ship you can worry about having more than just a friendship with Thrax.

Probably it was just the Fume again, messing with her hormones and making her hot, Andi told herself. But the image of Thrax covering her with his big body and piercing her throat with his fangs just wouldn't leave her mind. They had looked so long and sharp when he got up to go take a shower, like they always did when he was thirsty for blood. And her growly, brooding partner always got even darker when his Thirst was bad. But unfortunately, there were no donors he could go to here to get his "fix" of blood.

Or were there?

An idea began to form in Andi's mind. A way to make her partner feel better—even if only for a little while.

She just hoped it wouldn't hurt too badly…