Free Freeker by Ella Drake

he’s gone, that’s it. There’s nobody to come after me. Nobody to interfere. This is the man behind the program. If he’s gone, there’s no reason for me to run, to hide. Besides, he caused the death of all the guards he brought on this shuttle didn’t he? Tell me. Your brothers would have killed the ones who boarded, didn’t they?”
    “They would have.” He nodded and canted his head. Her face was hidden behind her purple streaked hair. A stray thought distracted him about her hair. She must have colored it while at Johnson’s. Did she usually streak it?
    He stared at her profile and the rigidness of her shoulders. The trancelike tone of her voice made him want to protect her, shield her from those who might take her from him again because they wanted to drain her memories. Not because of what she did, but to enjoy it for themselves. “Are you trying to convince me it’s a good idea to kill him? I need no convincing. They threatened our ship. That’s enough for me.”
    “He’s as tied to me as the others I’ve killed. Have I killed all the men close to me?”
    “If they are like this one, they deserved it.” He grunted. As far as he could tell, Chara had taken them out like their ship jettisoned trash at the garbage depots.
    “Should we keep him alive, in case we need him to bargain with?” Chara’s body shook, as if the effort to hold back made her vibrate with suppressed energy.
    “We’ll drift out here as long as it takes, but he can’t leave this ship. Do it.”
    Her face cleared. Her shaking stopped.
    Air slid from her mouth and she leaned forward.
    The knife slid into Jebe’s chest and into his heart. A sound of air escaping came from his throat, but he never moved, never showed another sign of fight as his life bled from his chest and onto the floor of the shuttle.
    Chara’s breathing went ragged and he tightened his grip on her waist. Lifting her, he got to his feet and crushed her against the front of him. “You feel it like a predator. Like one of us. To protect, to feed, or simply to test your own skills, you kill.”
    She jerked in his hold but he didn’t let her go.
    “You think I judge you for this? Indeed, I do.” He paused as she thrashed in his hold after his admission. Then he added. “I applaud you for it. You are strong. Strength is beautiful. I want you even more.”
    Her struggles ceased. Chara made a small sound and her hand dropped the bloody knife to the floor. He carried her to the back of the craft, away from the scene of their fight, and slid her down his excited body and to the floor. Guiding her, he pushed down on her shoulder until she sank into the most rearward seat. He stood between her knees. “It doesn’t matter if you’re free now, or not. I can take you away from here. They will not look for you on Ferrashi.”
    “The station won’t care. Nobody will come for me.” She blinked and lifted a hand from her lap. Her soft touch went to his chest and stroked over him. “You killed the other guard.”
    “I did.” He frowned, uncertain of her mood. He scented blood but also a hint of her arousal. She didn’t answer him, seemingly preoccupied but not by her immediate status. Licking her lips, she leaned forward.
    His muscles locked in place. Completely. The ship was derelict, unmoving beyond the little momentum it already had. There were three dead bodies and a dock boot with an unknown status, but none of that mattered. Nothing mattered but the primal urges Chara had let loose in him and the cloud of need in her eyes. Her tongue slid from her plump lips and flicked across his nipple. It tightened into a hard nub and shivers dotted his torso.
    “So good.” She said against his skin.
    He shuddered and glanced down as she lapped at him. She licked the guard’s blood from Warrant’s chest. Her grooming, cleaning him, made his cock go so hard the pressure pained him. His chest rumbled. His lips seemed to vibrate and he fisted and loosened his hands over