The Perfect Creation

Chapter Ten

On their third day journeying back towards the edges of the Eron Forest, Erin stared quizzically at the back of Rafe’s head. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but things had definitely changed. A closeness existed between them that hadn’t been there before. And the tender glances of affection Rafe shot her when he didn’t think she was looking shook her very foundation.

She loved him. She knew it and accepted it. But she hadn’t expected Rafe to love her back. He knew she was a Creation. And as much as he talked about helping her out, she thought his desire to assist her stemmed more from his propensity to right wrongs than that he’d fallen in love with her. So why did each touch of his hand resonate through her very being? As if connected by electricity, whenever Rafe looked at her, she felt his gaze. When his fingers brushed her skin, her entire body lit like a lightning storm.

Had to be that last sexual marathon. He fucked me so good, so hard…so long ago. Erin blushed as she rubbed her ass, wondering how she could mistake pain for pleasure. After all that Synster and Canunn had done to make her life miserable, she’d never once orgasmed, had never experienced even a tenth of the depth of emotion for her Creator or Handler that she had for Rafe.

Confused, she nearly ploughed into Rafe when he stopped.

“Whoa. Why the rush?” he asked with a smirk. As if he didn’t know.

“Cut the crap. Let’s get back to ‘civilisation’ so we can blow Blue Rim sky high.” And forget this mission so you can fuck me again. The blasted man had addicted her to sex, damn his hide.

He raised a brow in that infuriating manner of his and crossed his arms, bringing attention to his powerful frame. Erin loved his strength, that she couldn’t push him around whenever she wanted to. And it was more than his physical power, but his mental acuity as well. Rafe used all of his assets to dominate the world around him, herself included. If only he’d relax enough to indulge in the carnal pursuits she couldn’t stop thinking about.

For three hellish days she’d gone without. He’d kept their pace deliberately slow, attentive to her needs, all except for the one to have him inside her again. Yet she saw the heated glances, the erections he tried to hide. And she didn’t understand why he avoided his need. He claimed he wanted her focused on the mission, and he said he refused to use her baser instincts to overwhelm her.

Since when had Rafe of Mardu found principles? Oh, she knew his peacemaker status required that he help others in need—a category she definitely fit into. But she didn’t want to be his project. She wanted her lover to push her around. This nice act was driving her insane.

Such solicitousness when they crossed a stream or encountered a ferocious animal.

Erin snorted. As if she couldn’t handle herself. Hell, she still thought she could take him in a fight, one on one. He’d explained he was Xema, an extremely rare, powerful race of Mardu warriors, and that he thought she might be as well. Yet Erin also possessed some Ragga and Zephyran genetics. With so many aggressive genes, surely she could best him hand to hand? She had once, no, twice before.

The problem, as she saw it, was that as soon as they touched she wanted to submit, to give him whatever he wanted. And she hadn’t felt that way before, even after sharing sex with him. She’d been fighting the need to give in to him whenever they brushed hands or bodies, and she found, to her relief, she was building resistance. But that didn’t mean they had to forego sex totally, did it? Because her body constantly craved Rafe, as much as her heart did.

Glaring at Rafe, Erin deliberately loosed her pheromones, baiting him.

Rafe stilled and stared down at her with a narrowed gaze. “Problem?”

“I want to stop. And you’re crowding me.” But not nearly enough.

“Feeling feisty, eh?” The sparkle in his golden eyes had her loins pooling with want.

“Maybe I’m tired of you taking charge. We’re nearly at the trading post, a day early.” And you have yet to make love to me again. “It was my idea to take out Blue Rim in the first place. Peacemaker or not, this is my mission. Not yours.” Rafe grinned, irritating her to no end. “Well, I can see you’re feeling much better, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been fine.”

“No, you’ve been depleted. You used too much energy to evade me in the jungle. And after, well, after our sensual encounter, I think I pushed you too hard. You needed time to recuperate.”

Angered at his concern that simultaneously warmed her heart yet aggravated her, Erin invaded Rafe’s personal space, a breath between them, and poked him in the chest. “I don’t need you to take care of me. I’ve been doing just fine without you.”

“Right. For the whole four months you’ve been on your own.” Truly furious, Erin let loose even more of her pheromone and grabbed Rafe by the arms, her fingers curling around his hard biceps. A big mistake, she belatedly realised.

Because lust flooded her body and mind, drowning out the anger building there.

“That’s it, baby. Let it go.” Rafe pushed her to her knees and unbuttoned his trousers.

Finally, she wanted to shout, but Erin could only groan as she reached for the thick shaft jutting towards her.

“It’s been so hard waiting for you to be okay,” he rasped as she took him in her mouth.

“Fuck, yes. Oh, Erin, I love you so much, baby. You have no idea.” Joy caused tears to spring to her eyes, and as Erin worked him with her lips and tongue, she knew he spoke the truth.

“You’re so stubborn. Hell yes, you’re strong. But you’re also a woman who needs to be protected.” He groaned when she increased the pressure on his balls. “Do it again.” He cursed and thrust deeper into her mouth, touching the back of her throat. “I’m Xema, deal with it. You’re mine, and I’ll care for you the way I see fit.” Rafe lost his voice as Erin serviced his every unspoken desire. She shoved a finger in his anus, roughly taking his arousal higher. She tasted his seed as he began to lose control. And then she teased him with her tongue where she knew he liked it, and he cried out as he shot, shuddering with bliss.

Erin swallowed his cum greedily, lost to wainu though she hadn’t climaxed herself.

Rafe, however, took care of that by dragging her to her feet and kissing the breath out of her.

His hand shot into her trousers and worked her tight little bud, and within minutes she exploded, drenching him with cream.

“Oh, baby.” Rafe kissed her again and rested his forehead against hers. “I love it when you get all pissed off. It makes the need to dominate you that much stronger.”

“Rafe,” she protested, lost under his soft laughter and the short burst of wainu he pulled back from them both. She still didn’t understand how he could control the blissful comings and goings of that state, and she hadn’t yet asked, too lost in the wainu she experienced to care.

“No, no. You cheated. That perfume of yours is lethal. And I’m not as immune as I’d like to be.”

“You don’t want to want me?”

Rafe pulled away and looked at her as if she were crazy. “I love how you make me feel.

But when you overwhelm me, it takes away my control. And a Xema is always in control.”

“Always?” She glanced down at his flagging erection.

He flushed and tucked himself back into his trousers, righting hers as well. “Depends on which Xema you’re talking about,” he muttered and added something else under his breath, something that sounded suspiciously like stubborn mate.

She froze. “What did you just say?”

“Nothing.” He scowled. “How good is your hearing, anyway?”

“You said ‘mate.’ Are we mates? Is that why you love me? Why you’ve been so damned caring and careful the past few days?” Her heart racing in anticipation, Erin felt more nervous about his answer than she’d been when escaping from Blue Rim.

“Why? You have a problem with that?” he asked, his answer guarded.

Erin stared, not sure what to think. “But you said Xema can only mate Xema.” She’d asked a lot of questions about him during their trek back towards the trading tower. And to her surprise, he’d been more than willing to answer her.

“That’s what I said.”

“So?”

“So what?” Rafe sighed. “Erin, I love you. Does it matter why?”

“It does if it’s only because we’re both Xema.” Being Created was enough of a burden.

Erin refused to be someone’s commitment solely due to genetics as well.

“Please. You’re less Xema than you are a host of other possibilities. You’re sexy, smart, and give the best damned blowjob this side of the System,” he joked, but when she didn’t laugh, he rolled his eyes. “Erin, can’t you just accept that I love you for you? Honey, I know who and what you are. And I don’t care about anything but that you’re mine. Can’t you feel it, the connection between us?”

She nodded.

“That’s very, very rare. I won’t lie. I’ve experienced wainu before, and even felt affection for a few women. But I’ve never wanted one enough to claim her for my own.”

“You claimed me?” Erin didn’t know what that meant, exactly, but she thrilled at all he said. It sounded more and more as if Rafe truly loved her.

“I did. And I won’t apologise for it,” he growled, looking extremely annoyed. “I love you, you love me, and that’s all there is to it. We’re going to destroy Blue Rim, and then you and I are going to get on with the process of living.” Erin didn’t know what to say. Rafe had been planning all this out for them and hadn’t mentioned any of it to her. Much as she delighted in the fact that he wanted her, she didn’t like having her future planned out for her. She’d gone that route once before in her life. But he’d been so careful not to garner her submission unless they were making love. From that perspective, it seemed as if he wanted her to make her own decisions.

Before she could comment, however, she heard something moving in the woods in front of her.

Rafe froze as well, and they crouched low, taking cover in nearby bushes.

“Cheltam, come on out, man. We have a problem.”

Rafe and Erin glanced at one another in surprise, then stepped out to meet the new arrival.

“Drekk?”

Drekk quickly shook his head. “Don’t say another word. Just go along,” he murmured, staring at Rafe. “Trust me.”

“Oh, good,” a voice from Erin’s nightmares, from her Handler, whispered in the sudden silence. He appeared along with a dozen blue-suited men, teleporting into the small clearing of forest with phasers drawn. Eyran security uniforms, the recognisable sight symbolising Erin’s years of imprisonment, sent her into a panic.

Sweet perfume flooded the air as she readied to fight, to protect not only herself, but Rafe as well.

“Don’t do it,” Drekk growled, something in his gaze making her take a second look.

And that was all it took to render her off balance. In minutes several pulses stunned her into oblivion, and she fell into waiting arms, not sure of anything anymore.

Rafe stared in shock at Drekk, not knowing what to think. On the one hand, the instinct to protect his mate made him want to tear off the heads of everyone around them. But on the other, the rational measure of the lawmaker within told him to wait it out. Drekk had called him Cheltam, after all. If need be, Rafe could kill the lot of them after he’d found his answers.

“Cheltam,” Drekk said with what sounded like relief. “I was hoping to see you yesterday.” A lie. Drekk had told them he’d meet them at the trading tower tomorrow. “You have the girl, unharmed, as agreed? See Synster? I told you all was well.” He glanced at Synster, and Rafe recognised the name as the one Erin had put to her Handler.

In their days together travelling back, Rafe had explained to Erin more of his life as a Xema and peacemaker. And his mate had tentatively described life on Eyra. A series of tests and torture at the hands of Synster, this measly male Rafe could break in two with one hand.

Looking around, he failed to spot her Creator, Canunn. Too bad. Would have been nice to kill them both and present them to Erin with bows around their necks.

“She was unharmed,” Rafe growled. “Until one of these dicks shot her with a stunner.”

“The female is fine.” Synster shook his head, disregarding Rafe, to his inherent danger.

“At least the phaser will leave no lasting damage. So long as you haven’t done anything to mar her perfection.”

“I saved her ass from peacemakers bent on rape and several raptors and kethra wanting to make her into dinner. She’s a handy woman, I’ll grant you. But she’s not familiar with the Fields of Flor or the Anate Jungle.”

Synster started, his beady eyes narrow. “I hadn’t thought she’d get that far. Good, then.” Synster cleared his throat. “Your man Drekk tells me you want more than the hundred thousand we’re offering for her capture.”

Rafe glanced at Drekk and nodded, thinking fast. “If she’s worth that much, then knowledge about more like her should be worth a pretty penny.” Synster grinned, and unease tingled at the base of Rafe’s neck. “Oh, we know about the others. She’s the last one we need to find, I’m happy to say.” Synster glanced at the men around him and considered his words. “I’m not exactly sure why I should pay you anything, considering I’ve found her myself.”

Drekk, Rafe noted, narrowed his gaze, anger pouring off the large male in waves.

Rafe, however, hadn’t been away from Cheltam so long that he’d forgotten how to play the game. “Well, now. Seems to me you don’t know me as well as you should, Synster. My reputation is as good as it is because I’m a safe man.”

“How so?”

“I keep very clear, detailed records about every job I take. And though you didn’t deal with me personally on this matter, I have enough on you to put you to death several times over, should our girl’s beginnings be made public.” Rafe smiled through his teeth, pleased at Synster’s sudden pallor.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Why not? I’m a known criminal, but one with standards. You Eyran scientists, however, have a bad reputation with creating things that destroy.” Rafe stared from Erin to Synster. “You kill me and all details surrounding Erin, you and Canunn will be all over the Vrail news vids within twenty standard hours.”

Drekk nodded. “I told you we play hardball, Synster.” Synster grimaced. “That’s not necessary.”

“Oh, but it is.” Rafe held Erin in his arms, wanting nothing more than to put her down and pound Synster into a bloody pulp. “Now I want a credit chip with two hundred thousand on it, as well as passage back to Tekor for me and my friend.” He nodded to Drekk.

“And I want to know if anyone else is currently looking for Erin. Anyone else I’ll have to beat back when they come pounding at my door demanding to know why I stole their bounty out from under them?”

Synster flushed. “A harmless group. Mara’s Light agreed to track her. But Drekk contacted me before Catam returned my calls. I expect they’ll be easy enough to manage for someone with your reputation. ” Syntser threw back at him. “Now give me the girl.” Synster nodded at two large security men to step forward.

“No. You give Drekk the chip, and we’ll wait while he verifies it.” Synster glared. “I don’t think you understand who’s in charge here.” A sudden disturbance in the air had Drekk and Rafe on one side of the small clearing and Synster and his team on the other. In seconds, two large Ragga, a Mardu, a large, stunning male and a tall, sexy female appeared with pistols at the ready.

“Synster, how good to see you,” Catam said with rancour. “Not going to give away my currency, were you?” Catam’s gaze flashed to Rafe’s, but he said nothing more and looked back at Synster.

“Speak of the devil,” Drekk murmured with amusement. “What were you saying about getting rid of Mara’s Light, Synster?”

Synster’s eyes widened with alarm as he stammered for his security to protect him.

Guns aimed at one another and shouting ensued while Rafe cradled Erin to his chest protectively.

“I had to bring Synster and crew,” Drekk said under his breath by way of apology.

“They found Ryen and Anin earlier today. But on the bright side, at least I have you two a minute to finish up.”

Rafe glared, not amused at any of this.

“Cheltam, what a pleasure,” Catam spoke loudly, breaking through the noise. “Should have known you’d be in on this.”

“Yes, you should have.” Rafe was so going to kick Catam’s ass for involving himself in this mess. And where the hell were Isa and the girls?

“Catam, perhaps it would be wise of you to remind Cheltam that I command Mara’s Light,” Mara said with steel underlying her words.

Rafe fumed. “Lady, right now I don’t give a shit who works for who. The girl is mine to deal with. So Synster, you want her back? Gimme that chip.” Catam and the others exchanged glances, and Rafe noted that Lurin, Mara’s mate, looked none too pleased with his attitude. Well, fuck it. This was his operation, his woman, and his responsibility. Not his little brother’s.

“Fine. Dagga, give him the currency,” Synster snapped.

One of the men set the amount and handed Drekk a chip. Drekk vanished, and while they waited for him to return, Rafe kept Erin close. Catam, he noted, studied him with interest.

“Just tell me this is all the crowd we’re going to have today. Because if I so much as see a hint of a peacemaker, I’m leaving with the woman. And you’ll never see her again,” Rafe snapped, annoyed.

“You’re not going anywhere, not with our currency,” Mara had the nerve to interject.

Rafe glowered. “Mara, you push too hard and you’re going to get hurt.” Synster and the others backed up as the crew of Mara’s Light advanced on Rafe. But seriously ticked off at his interfering brother, Rafe let loose his Xema abilities, calling on the distortion techniques as he replicated. In seconds, three dozen images of Rafe holding Erin dotted the area, and in the confusion, Rafe moved back into the woodline out of sight of everyone.

Catam, a fellow Xema, most likely saw him move, but was smart enough to keep his eyes on the fake Rafe’s all around him. Rafe spoke through all of them, making it impossible to find his exact location.

“Soon as the currency is verified, the girl’s yours.” He spoke to Synster. “So you have no need of the others we discussed.” Stalling them, he planned how to handle this mess.

Much as he didn’t want to, Rafe knew he would have to give Erin back, if only to follow her to her siblings. She’d never allow them to come to harm, and as his mate, bound Rafe to doing the same. Rafe could only pray Drekk had managed to find them the techie and supplies they needed.

“I hate when they do that,” Lurin muttered, scowling at the copies of Rafe and Erin.

“Damn Xema.”

“You can say that again,” Catam said with menace. “When this is over, Cheltam, you and I are going to settle a few things.”

Rafe scoffed, “You and what crew?” Which had the crew of Mara’s Light shouting and threatening, putting Synster and his men on the defensive all over again as Mara accused Synster of lying to them.

Thankfully, Drekk found Rafe in the woods and kept his voice and presence hidden from everyone else. “The credits are good. I already transferred them. My techie just finished scrubbing all the records of Erin and her family from Blue Rim. And it wasn’t cheap. Cost a hundred thou just for that.”

“Drekk, get on with it.”

“Sorry. Look, the way I figure it, we give her back to Synster, then track them with this.” Drekk held a small device to Erin’s waist and pressed a button. “You have to keep Cheltam’s cover. And she can lead us to her family, because you know she won’t stop until they’re freed again. Once we have them and the other prisoners still being held at Blue Rim, we blow the place up.”

“What?”

“You know Sernal wants everything bagged, tagged and documented. But that will just give rise to new Creations, new subjects to torture and experiment on.” The rage in Drekk’s voice gave Rafe pause. “What’s right is right, Rafe. And against the law or not, Blue Rim needs to be stopped.”

“But there are innocent people—”

“No. No one at Blue Rim is innocent. They all know what goes on there. Trust me.

There aren’t as many people working the labs as you’d think, and every one of them is cleared to Create. That’s what Blue Rim does. They play -god for profit.”

“But—”

“I’m sorry, Rafe. I’m taking them out, with or without you.” Drekk handed Rafe a micro-teleporter, a small device Rafe accepted and tucked into the pocket of his trousers, and waited.

After a minute, Rafe sighed. “Okay. We blow up the lab, but not the people. I’m not a killer, Drekk. And neither are you.” Though Drekk clearly wanted to argue, he nodded instead, and Rafe let out a breath of relief. He’d never been totally comfortable working in the grey. But then again… He stared down at Erin. He would do whatever it took to protect her and others like her, others like Drekk and her siblings. “I’ll handle the arrests and you can blow up the lab, okay?” The delight on Drekk’s face made him wince. “But you make sure to leave Synster and Canunn to me.”

“Done.” Drekk smiled, menace radiating off him like that damned perfume he exuded.

“Now how about you quit fucking with their minds out there and hand Erin over?” Rafe shook his head, not wanting to let Erin go. “You do it. I can’t.” Drekk nodded with sympathy and gently took Erin into his arms. He walked out into the clearing, and Rafe drew in on himself, making his images disappear. He heard the exclamations of surprise, Drekk’s rumbling, and then Drekk reappeared.

“Synster and his men are gone. But we need to leave, right now.”

“Why?” Within his next breath, solid arms wrapped around his waist and arms, taking him off his feet even as someone lifted a pistol to Drekk’s forehead. Dammit. More illegal teleporters. Too bad he hadn’t used the one Drekk had just given him before they were captured.

“Why? Because Mara and her crew were not amused with your antics,” Lurin Vez explained in a deep, angry voice.

“Shit.”

“I tried to tell you.” Drekk glared at Catam holding a gun to his head. “Fucking Mardu.”

Catam glared back, and Rafe wondered how much damage the two Raggas holding him might inflict before he could reach the teleporter in his pocket. Drekk only stayed to help him, though he wished his friend would leave to track Erin.

“We don’t have time for this,” Rafe began when Mara cut him off.

“Make time.” She scowled, giving him that sharp, lavender gaze that normally had her crew squirming with trepidation. “Dammit, Gar, I’m tired of your bullshit. Enough is enough.”

“I’m not Gar.”

Catam and the other stared at him, and Catam blinked in disbelief. “You’re not… Rafe?

What the hell did you do to yourself? You even smell like Gar, like you’ve been claimed…” he trailed off in horror.

“Yes, little brother. My mate is right now in the hands of some crazy scientists and I want her back.” In his anger, Rafe let out a burst of energy, effectively shoving the Raggas holding him into the trees at their backs.

“Crap.” Catam scowled. “Okay, okay. Uh, Mara? He’s not lying. This really is Rafe.

And I think it’s best if you guys leave this to us,” he ended, motioning to Rafe and himself.

“It’s a family thing now.”

“You want me to leave you and your idiot brother, and Drekk,” she said scornfully, earning a raised brow from the man, “up against Blue Rim and a Creation?” Rafe glared at her, ignoring Lurin’s frown. “Erin is not a Creation. She and her brother and sister did some time for petty theft and were captured by System law. Unfortunately, like many of the others Blue Rim took, she and her family became unwilling experiments trapped in a scientific horror for years.”

Mara paled. “Hell. I’m sorry, Rafe. I assumed, since Gar was so adamant, that she wasn’t natural.”

Rafe fumed at the word “natural” but didn’t argue. Best to let her and the crew believe him. “Yeah, well, if we don’t get her back, she might just become the monster you’re all accusing her of being. You have no idea what she’s suffered for the past four years.” Lurin shook his head. “Four years? I don’t want to think about it. Come on, honey,” he said to Mara. “Let’s get back to the ship. Nu, Set, Catam, let’s go. Rafe, I trust you’ll signal us when you need our help?” Catam looked like he wanted to argue, but Rafe nodded for him to leave.

Rafe was about to refuse their help, however, when Drekk stepped in. “That’s a good idea. We can use you as a distraction when we pull the others out.”

“The others?” Mara asked.

“The other prisoners still trapped inside,” Rafe growled.

Nu and Set flexed their hands, as if anticipating a fight. “Let’s go,” they said as one.

“Yeah,” Drekk added. “Come on, Cheltam. Follow me. You won’t believe the stuff our contacts found for us.” Drekk disappeared.

Rafe turned to Catam. “Erin’s mine. I claimed her, fully.” Catam’s eyes widened. “She’s Xema? A female Xema?” Rafe nodded.

“Hot damn. Okay, brother. You find her, we’ll help. And hey, just think, when this is all over, she and Mom can bond, leaving poor Isa and the girls alone.” Rafe couldn’t help a small smile at the thought of Catam’s fiery mate and their mother at odds again, putting Catam in the hot seat. “Sounds good. Be careful out there.” And that said, Rafe teleported to Drekk’s signature inside a private weapons class ship.

“We’re going to blow them off the planet,” Drekk said with malice.

“After we rescue Erin and the others.” Rafe absently rubbed his chest, feeling half the man he’d been just this morning without Erin at his side.