Planet Athion: The Complete Series by Angel Lawson

73

Damon

Dammit.

Fuck.

Shit.

These are the words that run through my head as I try to will my rock-hard boner back to submission. That little scene Kai, Alex, and Mercy pulled back there? Absolute manipulative bullshit.

I walk into the dining room, take a seat at the head of the table, and wait for the others to either come join me or go back to their little play time. I doubt they’ll go for the sex again, because obviously that was set up for me. What’s the fun of fucking around if Damon isn’t there to watch?

I wince as I shift in my seat, my balls aching.

I hear them coming down the hall, laughing. If I hadn’t been in the room with them moments before, I still would know what they’d been doing. Between the matching Cheshire grins on Alex and Kai, the look of horny distress on Dimka’s face, and the glazed-over and well-fucked expression of bliss I am familiar with from Mercy, the reek of sex wafting off the whole lot of them stinks.

“Nice of you to join me,” I say, as they all find a seat. Kai gives Mercy the seat across from mine. Dimka and Alex sit next to her and Kai comes to my left. There’s a powershift here. I feel it, they orchestrated it, and none of it is changing my mind.

Once everyone is seated, servers come from the kitchen, hands full of serving platters. They’re placed on the table but I don’t look at any of them. I’m focused solely on the woman across from me, who, at the moment, is trying her best to ignore me in return.

“This looks amazing,” she says, to one of the servers—a former slave that has stayed on under the rebellion. He’s now a paid employee of the Athion government. “Thank you.”

The fact that everyone continues on with their meal, as though what happened in the other room moments before didn’t exist, seems to bother no one but myself.

I stab my fork into a piece of meat covered in a thick gravy.

Kai lifts his fork and says, “I spoke to the transportation unit. They’re finalizing a date for the women in the wards to return to Athion when they’re physically capable.”

Mercy’s eyes light up. “Already?”

“The Emperor views it as a priority,” he adds.

“That’s wonderful news. They’ll be happy to hear we’ve made progress.”

The others join in the discussion and I eat. Watch. They’re all pleased with one another and when I look at Dimka, I see the longing. He’s no longer torn. It becomes increasingly clear that in two days, I’ll leave for my mission alone.

Fine. I prefer life on my own, anyway.

“Is everything ready for your mission?” Mercy asks toward the end of dinner. It’s the first time she’s addressed me directly.

“Yes. The scouts have enough intel to make me confident we’ll be successful.”

She smiles, although it doesn’t meet her eyes. “And then what?”

“Then I’ll lead the active unit to the next brothel, the next birthing ring, until they’re wiped off the planet.”

She pretends she doesn’t understand this—my need to go out and finish this—but she does. In her heart, she does. She didn’t fall for me on that ship because I’m stable and secure. She knew when she got in my bed that I’m the wild card. The rogue. And if Mercy Ladd thinks she’s going to be the one to tame me, to lure me into this little family, she’s wrong.

But there’s something else…if she thinks she can taunt me with that dress, with seeing her succumb to pleasure, to tolerating this whole night with our claiming my piece one last time, she’s wrong about that, too.

She can act like she’s strong when it comes to me, but I know better.

We keep the charade up through dessert, which is a mixture of fruit from farms outside the city. She plucks the ripe, purple berries, some of my favorite, and eats them one by one. Her fingers grow stained. She laughs at the juice dribbling from her lips, her tongue trying to catch the drops before they fall to her napkin. Finally, she says, “I really should go clean up.”

The four of us are left alone as she heads down the hall. Alex turns to me and says, “How long are you going to keep this up?”

“Keep what up?” The only thing up, I almost said, is my cock.

He shakes his head and I realize I’m done with this group. I toss my napkin on the table and push back my chair. “I’m expecting some reports. I’ll be in the office.”

“Damon,” Dimka calls, but I’m already gone.

I’ve already accessed the data from the tech on my wrist and I’m distracted when I walk in the room, unaware that I’m not alone.

“Running away?”

I glance up and see Mercy leaning against the desk. From this angle her skirt is ridiculously short, revealing her long, gorgeous legs. The fabric glitters and it fits like a second skin.

“I’ve got some work to do.”

“Of course,” she says, watching me walk toward the desk. “You’re a company man now. The perfect Custo.”

I stop. Our positions are reversed from this afternoon. She’s now the one leaning against the desk.

“Is that so bad? I thought you liked Custo. You certainly enjoyed Kai before dinner.”

“I think you know what I like.”

Her statement is loaded, but I hold firm. “I’m not doing this with you—or them.”

“Why, Damon? Why does this scare you so much?”

I want to tell her it doesn’t, but it’s a lie and she knows it. She knows my heart and that…that’s what’s so fucking scary. The fact that I’m not angry about her being with my brothers. That’s terrifying. I should be territorial. Possessive. I’m just jealous that I can’t let go.

“What if you get hurt again?” I ask suddenly. “What if I’m so distracted by all of this that I let another monster in our lives?”

Her head tilts. “Do you think I didn’t know I was taking a risk when I left Earth?”

“Not this kind of risk. Not like Cassidy and Amias. Not like the Master.”

“True, which is why I’m not going to push back on the good stuff, Damon. I never thought I’d open my heart so much, but that was an unexpected gift.”

I swallow. “Opening yourself in that way, to four people, is a lot.”

She studies me, wondering if I’m talking about her or myself. Her eyes narrow and she says, “You’re right. But with risk comes reward, and I never thought you’d be one to miss out on a reward like this.”

She pushes off the desk, moving past me, toward the door. It’s the second time she’s walked out on me today and there’s a nagging in my chest that it may be the last chance I’ll get.