Planet Athion: The Complete Series by Angel Lawson

48

Damon

I spendthe next few days in a drugged-out bliss. Mercy being the drug. I can’t get enough of her body, her smile, and definitely not her face when I bring her to the edge of ecstasy. I revel in the race of my heart when she takes me with her.

We’re in the sweet spot of our journey. Supplies are holding, fuel okay, our destination is five days away. The guys and I are in limited contact but everything seems on target. Or so I thought, until we get together as a group for dinner.

I don’t know when Cassidy and Amias picked up on the shift in our relationship. We hadn’t been quiet during our time in my room. Or once in the laundry room and another in the lounge. I couldn’t get enough of this woman with her red hair and equally feisty spirit. She’s insatiable in bed, and there was one revelation that rocked me.

“You haven’t had sex with the other guys?” I repeated, trying to wrap my head around what she’s saying.

“I told you I wasn’t fucking them,” she replied, throwing my accusation back at me. It made sense though; entering her had felt good, really good.

“I thought you just didn’t like my wording.”

“I didn’t, but it’s still the truth.”

We were in bed, naked, bodies still covered in sweat. My head fell back on the pillow. “They’re going to kill me.”

“Why?”

I gave her a hard look. “There have to be some kind of rules about this. I don’t know what they are, but I’m sure they’re there. Kai? Dimka?” I shook my head thinking of how they’d react. How I’d react if the woman I’d been courting had sex with someone else first.

“There aren’t any rules,” she told me. “We just didn’t have time back on Athion. The one night we spent together we used getting to know one another. Other than that, our days and nights were busy.” Her finger ran down my breastbone. “You and I have an abundance of time.”

Now, I stare at her across the dinner table, thinking how foolish I’d been to let those early days pass without making a move. My head was—

“Up his ass like usual.”

I blink and look at Cassidy. “What?”

“I said your head is up your ass, like usual. God. Have you not paid any attention to anything we’ve just been talking about?”

Amias shakes his head at his wife. “We got a communication from The Master. They’re wanting confirmation on our arrival.”

“That’s not unusual,” I say. “Is the decoy ship still in place?”

“Yes.” Amias glances at Mercy, who is listening quietly to our discussion. “There’s been a little chatter on the radio about a baby being born on the outpost.”

I lower my fork. “What kind of chatter?”

“The kind about a mysterious woman appearing out of a ship and insisting on delivering the baby.”

“How long have they been talking about this?”

“A day or two.”

I sit straighter in my chair. Amias looks back at me nervously. “Why am I just hearing about this now?”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

Amias’ eyes flick to Cassidy. His wife groans and tosses her napkin on the table. “Because you were busy fucking Mercy. And happy for the first time in god knows how long. And we decided to give you a moment’s peace.”

Mercy’s eyebrows raise but her cheeks flush and I know now that when she’s embarrassed that’s not the only place on her body that turns red.

“Damon?”

I drag my eyes from Mercy and focus on Amias. “What?”

“Should we do anything about the rumors? Even if the Master heard about them, it’s unlikely he’ll put two and two together. He thinks Mercy is getting delivered to him thousands of miles away in a few days.”

“I think we need to be careful,” I say. “But he’s about to find out she’s not on that craft anyway and that we’re no longer under this thumb."

“What did you say?” Mercy perks up, her eyebrows furrowed in question.

Amias, Cassidy, and I exchange looks. “We’ve been waiting for the opportunity to make a big move,” I explain. “Right before Kai contacted me about rescuing you, we’d come into a bit of intel.”

“What kind of intel?”

Cassidy speaks up. “About the birthing rings. A big one on Tradrych. We hadn’t been able to locate it until recently, then Kane allowed a bit of information to slip when I met him during your auction. It’s enough for us to act.”

“I don’t understand. Act on what?”

“Shutting it down, Mercy,” Amias says. “That’s been our goal all along, to get enough information and leverage inside the Master’s system to find and destroy this ring.”

Her eyes shift to me. “And you’ll do this after we meet up with the guys?”

“Once you’re safe, we’ll break out on our own and head back to Tradyrch.”

“That’s…that’s insane.”

“No, it’s what we do. It’s why the Custo sent me out here. It’s why I’ve done all his bidding this whole time. To bring his industry down.”

“How dangerous is this mission?” she asks. Cassidy and Amias shift uncomfortably.

“I think you two may need to discuss this in private,” Cassidy says.

I hold Mercy’s eye as the two vanish back to the flight deck.

“Look,” I begin, “everything in this job is dangerous—”

“That’s not an answer.”

I exhale and stand, walking over to her. I take both her hands and bend down before her. “My whole life has been about stopping assholes. With the military, with the government, and up here in freaking space. After I saw what Cassidy went through and what those women go through, I made a deal with myself that if the time came to bring down the whole system, I would.”

“You really think you can do that?” she asks, hands gripping mine tight.

“I don’t know. The Master is a sneaky bastard. He’s gotten away more than once but even if he does, I don’t regret saving people.”

She leans forward and gives me a kiss, a sweet one that tells me that she understands. I’m not surprised, because she has a mission too, one that may have just converged. That doesn’t mean she’s not worried though—or pissed. I get it. Caring about people has consequences. It’s why I stayed away so long.

Footsteps clang on the stairwell. “Guys?” We part. Cassidy is hanging on the railing. “We’ve got company.”