Savor Me Slowly (Alien Huntress #3)(9)
Author: Gena Showalter

“The plan?” she asked, careful to keep the dread from her voice.

“Whatever it takes, win him over. Get me answers.”

Whatever it takes. A phrase she’d heard a hundred times before. Usually it sickened her. Today, she could not squelch a thrill of excitement. More time with the enigmatic Jaxon? Hell, yes. She’d take it. Stupid girl. What would Jaxon force her to do for those answers?

As she thought of him, though, her adrenaline levels spiked a lot higher than they had during the gunfight and ensuing chase, causing her limbs to shake. Her brow furrowed. What kind of reaction was this? She hadn’t experienced one like it before.

She frowned. “What about the Tutor case?”

“You’ll return, just later than we originally intended.”

That meant starting all over with the disgusting Tutor, a man who didn’t trust easily. That meant more flirting and more dirty talk, all with a man she despised with every fiber of her being, just to regain his confidence and win her way back into his life. He had to wonder where she was and what she was doing. She’d left so suddenly, without explanation, because she couldn’t chance being detained.

“Jaxon is injured, sir, barely able to talk.” Had her voice just quivered?

“Doctor him,” was the reply, “and make him talk. I told you, use any means necessary.”

“And if I refuse?” she asked, though she already knew the answer. Hopefully the question would hide her anticipation. And anyway, sometimes she lived to antagonize him. Sometimes she despised her boss more than she despised the thought of being killed.

“Acting human again, Le’Ace?”

She popped her jaw. He hadn’t been her first owner, every one of them was now dead. Sadly, not by her hand. But this bastard knew she’d been constructed in a dish and therefore didn’t consider her anything more than an object, a machine.

“You know I hate when you do that, and you have to know I’m staring at your control panel right now.” His tone was silky and smooth, daring her.

A few times over the years she’d watched him interact with others, people he considered his peers. He’d treated them with affection, lavishing smiles and praise. Genuine, too. That’s what had amazed her most, since he’d never shown her anything but contempt. Her, he taunted. He used. He threatened.

“One press of a button, and you’re dead.”

“Yes, one press of a button and your billion-dollar android is gone. No more dirty work being done for you. No more whoring for you. Don’t forget that.”

A sharp pain suddenly ripped through her head, and she groaned. She’d known better. Defiance was met with suffering, every damn time. Don’t beg for mercy, don’t you dare beg.

The pain continued, savaging her mind, burning away the hatred and resentment she harbored for her boss. Or burying it so deep it no longer mattered. Relief was her only concern as black spots winked over her vision. Her heart convulsed as though a hand had reached inside her chest and squeezed. Her lungs closed off. Much longer and her skull would burst. Much longer—

“Stop,” she finally begged.

It didn’t. The ache spread, her legs throbbing as if knives were sliding in and out of the bones. Don’t make another noise. Don’t say another word. She pressed her lips together, and tears filled her eyes. Any second she would pass out. Too much, it was too much. The pain—

“Please.” She couldn’t stop the word from escaping.

As suddenly as it appeared, the pain ceased. She was panting, she realized a moment later. Sweat was pouring from her, causing her clothes to plaster to her body, yet her blood felt cold as ice inside her veins.

“You were saying, Le’Ace?”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and ground her teeth, willing herself to calm. Always calm. Numbness was her only friend. She knew that, wouldn’t forget again. She hoped.

“You’ll have your answers. Sir.”

CHAPTER 3

Jaxon. Wake up for me, honey.”

The husky, familiar voice tugged at him, dragging him from contented sleep to agonizing hellfire. Strangely, he didn’t mind the pain because the voice belonged to the woman in his dreams, the angel-demon who wanted to both f**k and kill him.

Mmm, being f**ked to death didn’t sound half bad just then. Pleasure, release, then ultimately, eternal peace. Could a man truly ask for more?

“Jaxon.”

This time the voice sounded fuzzy, convoluted, as if the single word had been shoved through a pool of water and had done a tap dance with a school of fish before registering in his brain.

Jaxon tried to pry his eyelids apart, couldn’t. No matter what he did, he couldn’t f**king open them and only managed to hurt them all the more, the skin seeming to tear in thousands of tiny places. What the hell?

Don’t panic. Think. First, where was he? Something soft cushioned his back. A bed? Warm breath caressed his neck. The woman? Yes, yes. She was beside him. A memory suddenly played through his mind: brass knuckles drilling into his eye socket, cracking the bone. He frowned. Had she fought him?

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Eyes.”

“I didn’t understand. Say that again.”

“Eyes.”

“Oh, your eyes. Your lids are glued together. Your corneas were damaged and every time you opened them, you made them worse.”

He shifted toward her, craving more of her warmth, more of her exhalations against his too-sensitive skin. Nausea instantly churned in his stomach, threatening to spew past his raw, constricted throat. He swallowed the disgusting burn of it before breathing in and out to steady himself.

What’s wrong with me? One of his arms and one of his ankles blazed as if they’d been dipped in lava and the raw wounds sprinkled with salt. His sides throbbed as though they’d been pinned to the bed with boulders.

“You’re grimacing again. Still in too much pain to talk?” A pause, a sigh. “I’ll help.”

Another warm exhalation floated over his face. Something sharp slid into the base of his neck, and then his entire world blackened. The peace returned. Oddly, he would have preferred to stay with the woman.

“Jaxon, you ready to wake up now?”

There was the voice again, a little more insistent and impatient this time. Frustrated, perhaps, and a bit concerned. How long had he slept? Felt like days, stiff as his body was. He did a mental sweep, found that he was naked except for something heavy on one of his arms, one of his legs.