Free Mesmerized by Lauren Dane Page A

between wanting to keep her safe from the truth of it and telling her everything so she’d be better equipped to handle any trouble.
    “Listen, I need to make contact with them, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Why don’t you stay here or go to the mercantile to grab supplies? I’ll find you when I’m finished.”
    “Oh, you mean while you go over there and get hired on because you have a penis and therefore are more qualified than me? Me, who has a reputation here as a cargo runner?”
    He nearly growled at her. Until several days before when he’d saved her ass from being murdered by Imperium troops, he’d not been tempted to growl at anyone in years if one didn’t count Abbie Lyons and Carina Fardelle. They were other men’s problems though. This one—he glared in her direction—was most definitely his problem.
    “Don’t growl at me. Just look pretty and scary in that way you have. I’ll do the talking. I will, however, take any advice you’d like to give me on what it is you want me to say.” She said it as she pulled the conveyance to a stop.
    Annoyed as he was, he had to admit she was right to take point. They knew her, though some knew him, too. “Fine. But if I start giving orders, you take them.” He ignored her snort and continued speaking. “We just need an in with them again. We want to run goods, but not whatever it is Cheney wanted you to move.” He’d been working with others like him so long, he wasn’t sure if he was making the distinction clear.
    They needed to earn enough trust to look around, but not to actually do the bidding of the Imperium that would cause harm. He’d be sure to drop the location of the cargo, whatever it was, to the Federation, but there were other parties working on other things, other pieces of the puzzle, and he had to keep his pace even with theirs.
    “Good.” She sat back a moment, clearly relieved. “I don’t want any part of this whatever it is they’re trying to do. I want to help stop them. I’ll do everything I can, even take orders from you if necessary.”
    “If I could do this all without you, I would.” He hesitated.
    “You can’t, and no matter what, I’m happy I can help.” She pushed from the door she’d opened, hopping to the ground, and he followed.
    Her walk was confident. No one would get the drop on her out here, which made him relax marginally.
    She headed toward a man Andrei had seen in his briefing materials. Jan Karl, one of Fardelle’s top ministers after Hartley Alem had been put to death some months before. There was strong suspicion the man had engineered the recent biological outbreak in the Imperial ’Verse, Faelene. So many had died, even before all outgoing communication had been halted.
    And here he was, in Federation territory engineering their own natural resources to aid them in murdering Federation citizens. Anger spiked through him at the sight of this man who shat upon the Federation with such impunity. He wanted to punch someone over it.
    Dust, rage and impotent frustration. The scents and memories of Asphodel all knotted within him.
    “You owe me quite a packet of credits.” Piper’s snarl at the man in the chair next to Karl yanked Andrei from his anger.
    It also began to revive his cock. At this rate, he’d lose all sensation in the area from overstimulation or something.
    The man twisted a smile up at her. “So I do.” Drawing out a pouch, the man counted out the chips, sliding the small pile to the center of the table, where the magister checked and then handed it to Piper.
    “I assume this makes us square?” He leaned back, and Andrei realized who the man was. Back in their youth, Kenner and Andrei had done numerous not-even-legal jobs for him. Porter, yes, Rhymen Porter. Andrei was surprised to find him still drawing breath, but then, he always had been a canny bastard.
    “This a new crew member?” He tipped his chins toward Andrei.
    “Only if by new you mean someone who ran your cargo