

# Dark Thoughts

# Cynthia Sax

Can love redeem a monster?

* * *

The Refuge is home to some of the most violent beings in the universe. Kralj, its leader, reigns over the remote outpost with terrifying ease, ruthlessly squashing any rumors of rebellion, killing anyone who breaks his rules. Primitive, deadly, powerful, he's a monster, scarred both on his face and his soul. He has never met a being he couldn't control.

Until he meets her.

Dita has one mission—to kill the three targets claiming sanctuary within the Refuge. Or so she claims. For the first time in his long lifespan, Kralj isn't certain of another being's intentions. The tiny assassin is immune to his powers, her thoughts unreadable. He can't predict her movements, can't control her, can't stop wanting her.

Dita is rare, as unique as he is, and, to keep the residents of the Refuge safe, Kralj will have to kill her. But first, he'll touch her, taste her, show her how passionate the beast inside him can be.

* * *

**Dark Thoughts** is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance.

The hero might be tall, dark, and scarred but don't be fooled by his appearance.

He's truly a monster.

This story is not for readers with delicate sensibilities.

Dark Thoughts

Published by Cynthia Sax at Smashwords

Copyright 2017 Cynthia Sax

Ebook design by Mark's Ebook Formatting

Discover more books by Cynthia Sax at her website

www.CynthiaSax.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First edition: March 2017

For more information contact Cynthia Sax at

www.CynthiaSax.com

### Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Afterword

Excerpt - Dark Flight

About The Author

### Chapter One

Kralj was one of the most powerful beings in the universe.

The part of him that was Beta Taurian Shadow Beast terrified others. It was savage and vicious, his beast hungering for blood even now, yearning to hunt, to rip out throats, to feast on flesh.

But it was his humanoid half that was truly monstrous. His brain had been enhanced, genetically crafted into a weapon without equal. He could decimate an entire settlement with one errant thought, had never met a foe he couldn't defeat.

No cage could contain him. No entity could influence him.

The Humanoid Alliance, his makers, had tried.

When ordered to breed, to produce another monster like himself, he'd refused, escaping his self-imposed prison. He'd freed some of the other less powerful modified humanoids, tried to save too many of the warriors and had paid a steep price for that arrogance.

Kralj ran his fingers over the scarred side of his face.

Once liberated, he had settled on Carinae E, a remote planet, with a select few warriors. He'd built the Refuge, erecting high walls, keeping others out and himself inside. For many human lifespans, he hadn't left that territory, ruling the settlement, monitoring every thought, every activity, setting the rules and enforcing them.

He had total control over the residents, over his beast, and over his more dangerous humanoid half. None of the Carinae E locals had seen the full extent of his powers, and if he had his way, they never would.

That arrangement didn't make him happy. Kralj doubted he could still feel that emotion. But he was content and the residents were safe.

That was enough.

Or so he told himself.

He pushed his private chambers' ancient swinging doors open with his mind and stepped into the main chamber. The beverage outlet, situated in the exact center of the settlement, doubled as his domicile.

The public chamber was filled with beings. The patrons were mostly male, primarily humanoid, outcasts from a multitude of planets, a variety of species as colorful as their pasts. They sat along the long serving center he'd had installed and around square horizontal supports scattered throughout the main chamber.

Many of the beings had containers of fermented beverages in their hands, having traded credits for the refreshments. Others played the games, gambling more of their ill-gotten gains, giving him a cut of the winnings.

Working females in various stages of undress tried to entice some of the males into breeding with them, sitting on laps, grinding into groins. Kralj received a portion of their earnings also. The majority of the credits were utilized to protect the residents, ensuring every being had its basic needs met.

He oversaw everything. The other beings respected and feared him, moving as he neared, giving him a wide berth.

Their thoughts, however, rolled over him. There was no escaping them.

_He's a scarred scary bastard._ Sari, an older breeding female, smiled at him, her artificial breasts nearly bare. _But he's the only being in this damn settlement who has the ability to kill me and I'm tired, so tired of the guilt. Every time a female dies, it returns._

Kralj knew about guilt. He carried that burden with him everywhere. And fucking him _would_ kill her. If he lost control, everyone in the settlement would die.

But his beast wasn't interested in her. Beta Taurian Shadow Beasts mated for their lifespans. Being only half beast, it was unlikely he had a mate.

He was destined to remain alone, untouched.

A short, round male narrowed his eyes at his opponent. _He's cheating. He must be._

The other being wasn't cheating. The short, round male was merely unlucky.

Kralj continued to walk.

Would anyone notice if I ate my nasal drippings?

Stars. I miss my female.

This will be my last mission.

The thoughts weren't restricted to the domicile. He heard everything flashing through the brain of anyone located within his mental reach, a radius large enough to encompass the entire settlement and a wide perimeter around it.

Kralj knew before stepping outside the structure that Orol, his second-in-command, was waiting for him, rather impatiently. The skies were clear and the winged male would rather be flying.

"Kralj, sir." Orol fell in step beside him. They'd been stationed in the same Humanoid Alliance compound, had fought together before escaping.

The modified humanoid had earned his trust. He was a skilled warrior, had unique abilities of his own, and he never questioned Kralj's authority.

"The perimeter is secure." Orol ran though the constant security checks, reporting information Kralj already had.

They strolled through the settlement.

A container merchant haggled with a customer. He'd already reached a profitable price but greedily wanted more credits.

A female slapped her mate's face. She thought he'd fucked her friend. He hadn't. He'd fucked her younger sister.

"Kralj, sir." A wiry, greasy-haired male called to him. He was being held down by a larger male, his face pressed against a horizontal support, his arm extended and restrained. Another male held a sword above his wrist. "I didn't do it. Tell them I didn't do it."

The male told the truth. He hadn't committed that offense but he was guilty of more serious ones.

Kralj ignored the male's pleas. As long as they didn't kill him, he wouldn't intervene.

The male with the sword drove the blade downward, slicing off the accused's hand. Blood spurted, painting the white stone pathway crimson. The accused shrieked.

Kralj didn't stop walking. His long coat swirled around his booted feet. He followed the same route he always did. The sun blazed downward but he didn't feel the heat, his face shrouded in constant shadow.

He chose who saw him, controlling that as he controlled everything else.

Almost everything else.

"Hulagu." He turned and glared at a spot behind Orol. "What did I tell you?"

The air rippled and a young Chamele male appeared. Chameles had the ability to blend into their surroundings. They couldn't conceal their thoughts, however. "You told me not to follow you." The boy hung his head. "But—"

"There are no buts." Kralj roared.

Containers rattled. Residents squeaked with alarm, running from the confrontation.

"While you're in the Refuge, you will obey and respect me."

The Chameles had assigned the boy to the Refuge as part of his off-planet training, a survive-or-die tactic. They planned to return for him at the end of the solar cycle, which was soon but not soon enough for Kralj's liking.

The boy had caused trouble since the first planet rotation he'd arrived.

"I respect you, sir," Hulagu mumbled, looking at his feet. They were large and bare. The boy was almost as tall as Kralj, his shoulders as wide but he hadn't yet gained the massive muscle of his kind. His form was merely a frame, to be filled out later. "I want to learn from you, to be part of your team. If you train me—"

"I'm not training you." The last being Kralj had trained had left the Refuge, never to return. He wouldn't waste his time on another being. "And you'll never be part of the team." His team was set. He wasn't changing it.

"Oh." Hulagu deflated even more. _He doesn't think I'm good enough and he's likely right. My friends were placed on more hospitable planets. I got stuck here and—_

"Your tread is too noisy. Even a human can hear you." Kralj didn't know why he was giving the boy advice. It wasn't his responsibility. "Walk with your weight farther forward."

"Yes, sir." Hulagu's head lifted, his face brightening. _He's training me._

"I'm not training you." Kralj strode away, disgusted with himself. The boy would be impossible to dissuade now.

Orol followed him, grinning. _Looks like our Ruler has found himself another protégé._

"He's not my protégé." Any warrior would have relayed that advice. It meant nothing.

That's what he said about the last one too.

Kralj ignored his second-in-command's thoughts. Orol had the mistaken belief his leader had what the humans called a heart. Yes, the organ in his chest beat. It pumped blood. But seemingly endless human lifespans of violence had dissolved any kindness in him.

He reached the front gates. They were open. A small group of settlers streamed into the Refuge, entering in the order deemed by Zeb, their leader. He was first. The males were second, the children next and the females last. They were dressed in baggy gray flight suits, their noses wrinkled with distaste, their judgments of the residents and of himself, its Ruler, harsh and unforgiving.

"We must be vigilant." Although Zeb's frame was lean, his voice was strong. "We will be surrounded by the wicked and their tools. But we will not touch them. Weapons serve only one master—violence."

Zeb knew all about the wicked, having been one himself. A former soldier, he had become addicted to the bloodshed, glorying in the killing. Now, the self-righteous hypocrite shunned weapons, blaming them for his weaknesses.

"Violence leads to evil and evil leads to an afterlife of nothingness." His followers, unaware of their leader's background, recited. "We will not be tempted."

Newly arrived on the planet, they had come to the Refuge, a place they regarded as the bastion of evil, to source supplies for their journey.

If they left with all of their limbs, they'd be fortunate.

Kralj pressed his lips together. As long as they obeyed his rules, that was none of his concern.

The last of the settlers, Azalea, a young orphaned female, barely grown, staggered past him, her face pale with exhaustion. The front gates began to close.

The motion pushed a wave of air toward Kralj. On that manufactured breeze was a fragrance, light, delectably feminine, absolutely mouthwatering.

_Mate,_ his beast growled, pressing against his restraints.

She was no mate. Kralj dismissed that ludicrous declaration. The unknown female wasn't a Beta Taurian Shadow Beast. He'd sense that.

But the aroma _had_ originated outside the settlement's walls. No other beings had approval to enter.

His curiosity piqued and his beast agitated, he pushed the gates wide open and walked through them, following the scent.

_He's leaving?_ Orol's thoughts expressed his surprise.

The reaction was warranted. Kralj only exited the Refuge to impale bodies on the spikes around the walls. That grisly display served as warnings to newcomers of what would happen to them if they broke the rules.

Leaving the settlement compromised its security. The farther he ventured to one side of the Refuge, the less mental coverage the other side had.

_Shit. The boss is here._ Balvan, the modified humanoid he'd stationed at the gates, was just as shocked by his presence. _This can't be good._

The green giant stood with his legs braced apart and his huge arms crossed. He used his immense size to intimidate others, to guard the entrance.

"Kralj, sir." Balvan nodded.

"Where is the female?" Kralj gazed out at the white sand dunes. The Refuge was situated in the flat barren wastelands, far from being-concealing rock formations.

There was no sign of their guest.

"Female, sir?" Balvan's forehead furrowed. "There's no female."

Couldn't he smell her? Kralj took another deep breath of the arid air and his body tightened, his beast rumbling with happiness.

"There _is_ a female." The aroma was faint but she was out there.

He drew more and more of her scent into his lungs, trying to pinpoint its origins.

"She must be hidden in the sand dunes." Kralj, for once in his long lifespan, wasn't certain. He didn't sense her thoughts. All of the mental noise was beside him, behind him.

Orol scanned the sands. "I don't see anyone." He turned to Balvan. "Do you see her?"

"No." The gatekeeper frowned.

His team offered no assistance. Kralj closed his eyes and focused on the sounds around him.

Balvan and Orol breathed deeply, out of sync with each other. A lighter wisp of a breath, originating from the far right of him, lagged Balvan's inhalations.

Barely.

The timing of her inhalations and exhalations had to be deliberate. They couldn't be a coincidence. She was consciously breathing in time with the male.

Kralj stiffened. "She's watching us." The mysterious female was a threat.

"Who is watching us?" Frustration edged Orol's voice. "And where is she?"

"I don't know." Kralj was forced to admit. How could the female have no thoughts? She wasn't a machine. He could sense and hack into processors and other simulated brains. Her breathing, her tantalizing scent meant she was, at the minimum, partially organic. Even the simplest of creatures had some brain activity.

"You don't know?" Balvan's bushy eyebrows lifted.

Kralj gritted his teeth. He normally knew everything, controlled everything. "I'll find out who she is." He'd scare her away from his territory.

"Because you don't know." Both of the males stared at him.

"Orol, assess the situation from the air," he commanded. "Balvan, no one gets past you, understand?"

Balvan's bald head dipped, his expression grave.

It _was_ a serious situation. Kralj had no idea what he was dealing with.

He turned right, stalking between the wall and the pikes he'd erected. The scent strengthened, strengthened, strengthened, then weakened. He took a couple of steps backward. There. It was at its strongest at that point.

Kralj still couldn't spot her. He'd have to flush her out.

Bracing himself, he sent a blast of energy forward. Sand flew through the air, the wall of granules briefly blocking the sun's rays, throwing the area into temporary darkness.

That demonstration of his power would have caused many seasoned warriors to flee. The female gasped but didn't move, remaining concealed.

Who or what was she?

_Mate._ His beast paced, anxious to meet her, touch her, claim her.

_Prey,_ he corrected. She was dangerous.

"Show yourself," Kralj boomed, using the universal language, impatient for answers. His lack of knowledge made him uncomfortable, a feeling he hadn't experienced in many, many solar cycles. "I know you're there."

"Do you?" Her voice was as arousing as her scent, hardening his cock. "Was it my breathing? I was distracted by your broad shoulders."

"It wasn't your breathing." Kralj gazed in her direction.

It wasn't easy to locate his opponent. She had concealed her body with a layer of sand, her goggle-covered eyes barely visible. The female had skills.

And she planned to use them against him. If her intentions were peaceful, she wouldn't be hiding. "I should kill you now."

"But you won't." The female stood, dusting the sand off her head and shoulders.

A riot of short curls framed an impish face. A black body covering encased her slender form, clinging like a second skin to firm breasts, a toned waist, curvy hips. Daggers were strapped to her chest, thighs, and arms. Guns filled the holsters at her hips. She was tiny but only a fool would discount her.

Kralj recognized her for what she was—a fellow killer.

He tried to push into her mind. There was nothing there. It was a huge empty chamber he couldn't fill. He directed more of his power into that space. That would have hurt another being, would have brought even the largest, strongest warrior to his knees.

She appeared unaffected.

"There's no reason to kill me." The tiny female pulled her goggles down, hung them around her neck, revealing eyes as blue as the sky above them. "I'm not inside your precious Refuge and I haven't broken any of your beloved rules."

"Yet." His tone was dry.

"Yet." She walked toward him, her gait loose, her lack of concern for the danger he presented perversely turning him on. The female was fearless.

"You're a threat." He didn't know why he was waiting to eliminate her. "Are you alone?"

"I'm always alone." Sadness flitted across her beautiful face, a cloud passing over the sun. Then her smile returned. "How am I a threat to you?" She purred, her full pink lips vibrating with each word.

He wanted to capture that tender flesh between his teeth and pull.

"You're a big strong male." She drifted her gaze over his physique, her perusal as sensual as a caress, heating him to the bone. "I'm a small human female."

"You _are_ small." Kralj surveyed her form as slowly, savoring her slight curves, her lean muscles, her upturned face. He was much taller than she was, the height differential forcing her into an excitingly submissive stance. "And you're definitely female." He longed to see her on her knees before him. "But are you human?" He bared his fangs, showing her he wasn't one of her kind. "I don't know what you're thinking."

"Don't lie to me." Her eyelids partially lowered, that physical acknowledgment of his dominance pleasing his primal nature. "You know what I'm thinking."

She slid her tongue over her bottom lip, wetting her flesh.

He tracked the movement with his gaze, achingly aware of her, of the need to possess this female, to subdue her. His brain warned him she was dangerous. His body didn't care. "What are you?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Kralj."

He liked the way she said his name. He didn't like that he didn't know hers.

"I'm human." She moved within his reach.

An intriguing vitality surrounded her, calling to him. He'd been alone for so long, solitary, emotionally isolated, unable to touch another being without causing damage, without killing.

"I was born with a brain telepaths can't access." She verified that exciting fact.

The powerful humanoid part of him couldn't harm her. He'd never met a being like her.

"That's why I was chosen." She swirled her fingertips over her right shoulder, tracing the aligned sun moon planet embossed in her body covering.

It was the symbol of the Dark Veil, a guild of assassins. She was a monster as he was, trained to end lives, violent and soulless.

His desire for her escalated.

"What are you?" She smiled up at him.

"I'm not a mere telepath." His psychic abilities exceeded any type of measurement. "I'm unlike anything you've ever encountered."

She lifted her chin. "You don't know what I've encountered."

"You haven't encountered any being like me." Kralj was certain of that fact. "I'm the beast hunting you in your nightmares, the fear you feel in the dark, the prickling over the back of your neck when you think you're alone." He gazed down at her, fighting the urge to grab her, to sink his fangs into her pale neck. "I'm not a male you play with, little one."

"My name is Dita. And who said I was playing?" She walked her fingertips across his chest, heedless of the danger she was in, oblivious to how close he was to taking her, tasting her. "You're an attractive male."

He wasn't an attractive male. He was a scarred beast, as hideous on the inside as he was on the outside. She dared to taunt him and that angered him.

"You find this appealing?" Kralj leaned forward, dissipating the shadows partially concealing his face, forcing her to look at his scars.

The right side of his face horrified the staunchest of beings. The skin from his forehead to his chin was angry and red, twisted, stretched, permanently melted.

It would repel her. She'd drop the irritatingly effective seductress act.

He could then view her as merely another enemy, kill her if that was the best solution to the problem she presented. There would be no hesitation, no emotions clouding his judgment.

"Yes." Dita reached up and touched his scarred cheek.

He flinched, surprised, shocked, stimulated beyond all reason. Although he was tempted, his inner alarms ringing a warning, he didn't retreat, didn't draw his face away from her hand. He stood his ground.

She inflicted more damage on his equilibrium, her fingers calloused yet gentle, fluttering over his skin. "I find this extremely appealing, handsome."

There was no sarcasm in her voice, no mockery in her expressive blue eyes. Did she truly find him handsome?

No, she couldn't. Kralj rejected that notion. He knew what he was, what she was. They were both monsters and monsters were heartless. She was manipulating him.

That realization didn't stop him from wanting her. His cock pressed against the confines of his ass coverings. His shadow expanded, partially blocking the sun.

"You're a good little liar." He told her. She was too good for his piece of mind. "Is this your strategy—flatter the target, lull him into complacency before killing him?"

"I don't lie and it would be my strategy." Dita laughed softly, the sound making his balls ache. "If the target looked like you."

She explored his face with her fingertips, wandering over the ridges, the hollows, handling his marred skin as though it were a priceless object, a treasure to be polished, cared for, cherished. Her beautiful countenance was soft.

He had never been touched like this. He stared at her, enthralled, his beast purring. She was so quiet, serene, her thoughts unreadable. Kralj pushed his cheek into her palms.

Then he realized what he was doing.

"No." A surge of dark energy erupted from him, flinging his tiny opponent backward.

Dita yelped, her arms and legs flailing. Kralj resisted his beast's demands to run, to catch her. She was the enemy and he allowed her to hit the sand.

She slid along a dune. Blood scented the air, her blood.

It smelled sweet. His mouth watered.

She was the most gorgeous creature he'd ever encountered and he wanted to eat her.

He was truly a monster.

A normal female would have been upset with his response. This one laughed, jumping to her booted feet. "You play hard to get, don't you, handsome?" She brushed the sand off her body covering.

Kralj spotted streaks of red on her hands. "I don't play. Ever." He fought the urge to rush to her, to lick her palms. His beast pulled at his mental chains. "And I'm not handsome."

"You _are_ handsome." The gaze she directed at him was torturously sensual. "We all have scars. Yours turn me on."

She wasn't lying. He smelled her arousal. The damn female was driving him wild.

If his restraint broke, if he lost himself in her, beings would die. He had to banish her from his territory. She was too dangerous. He couldn't read her mind, couldn't control her, and he was susceptible to her charms, didn't behave rationally around her. "I want you to leave the area."

She opened her lush mouth.

"Immediately." The sand vibrated with the force of that word.

His powers didn't scare his little assassin. "My targets—"

"Are not my problem." Kralj lifted his right palm in warning. He would propel her out of his range if she protested. "I'm denying you access to the Refuge."

"You could try." Her beautiful eyes glittered with a challenge he fought to resist.

"I _will_ succeed." The alternative couldn't be contemplated.

"No, you won't." Dita's confidence called to him. She was everything he never knew he wanted. "The beast hunting me in my nightmares might be scary, Kralj, but I'm aware of him." She looked at him, her gaze smoldering with sexuality, as hot as the sand under their booted feet. "I know how to evade him."

He was as aware of her as she was of him. She'd awakened needs, hungers. Kralj flicked his tongue over his fangs, the darkness gripping him.

"I've been watching your precious Refuge for three planet rotations." Dita's lips curled into a smug smile. "If I want to enter it, I will."

She turned and strolled away from him.

He watched her swaying hips, the proud straight line of her spine, the bounce of her brown curls against her nape.

His beast howled, wanting to follow her, track her, protect her.

She disappeared over a sand dune. Her scent faded and his beast calmed. The lust-induced fog in Kralj's brain cleared, his rational thought reviving.

Dita was a threat to the Refuge, to his control. When she returned and she _would_ return, he didn't doubt that, he would have to deal with her.

He told himself he didn't have a choice.

Rebellion was contagious. Kralj ruled over the dregs of the universe, beings with a proclivity for violence. He couldn't allow insurgence to spread.

She would have to be subdued.

Permanently.

He'd hold her curves against his muscle, sink his fangs into her delicate neck. Her blood would fill his mouth as she squirmed against him, her pert ass brushing over his hard groin.

Fuck. Kralj stared in the direction she'd walked.

He wanted her.

Chapter Two

Dita waited until the sun set before returning to the Refuge. The gates were closed, the impressively large green male no longer stationed in front of them.

Warriors patrolled the top of the white stone walls. Dita's lips lifted. Had Kralj added that precaution for her?

It wouldn't stop her. She waited until the warrior passed, ran to the wall, pressed her back against the warm stone, counted.

Sixty. Sixty-one. Sixty-two. He walked by her position again.

That was enough time.

Having scaled the wall five times during the previous rest cycle, while she was scouting for the ideal entry point, she knew her climbing speed. The ascent was doable.

Dita scrambled upward, using the natural indents in the rock as handholds. Her palms still stung from her confrontation with Kralj. The sand had embedded in her skin. It had taken her many moments to remove all of the granules.

His rough treatment shouldn't excite her but it did, which attested to how fucked-up she was. A trickle of sweat dripped down her spine. There was no coverage on the exterior. The walls were illuminated. If beings glanced in her direction, they'd spot her.

What would Kralj do if he discovered her on his precious wall? He'd killed beings for less. The grisly display of mauled corpses around the settlement was a testament to his wrath.

If he sought to end her life, her skills as an assassin wouldn't save her.

Orphaned at birth, Dita had been selected by the guild when she had two solar cycles. She'd been small even then. That had caused them to initially reject her. Then they discovered she was insusceptible to beings like Kralj, telepaths who could foresee a normal assassin's moves.

Since that planet rotation, she'd either spent her time killing or training to kill. It was all she knew, had become a piece of her, a significant part of her identity. Ending lives was her sole purpose in the universe. Without that task, she felt incomplete.

But she realized her limitations.

She wouldn't best Kralj in a fight. He was the one being on this planet she couldn't kill.

That was extremely sexy.

It also concerned her. She had three targets to eliminate.

It was best not to be caught.

Dita darted across the top of the wall, her tread silent, and she swung herself over the side. A domicile had been erected close to the stone, casting a concealing shadow across it. Although it decreased the possibility of discovery, she didn't take any chances, descending quickly.

Voices broke the silence, none that she recognized. She slipped into the darkness.

"I knew as soon as I smelled you, you were my gerel, the female meant to be mine." A young Chamele male danced around an equally young human female.

Dita recognized the girl. She had been part of the religious group she'd seen enter the Refuge. They had an issue with violence, if she recalled correctly. That made their chances of survival on Carinae E, one of the most primitive planets she'd ever encountered, slim.

"You're one of the wicked beings our leader warned us about." The young female's sparkling eyes belied her prim tone. "I'm not supposed to speak to you."

"You _have_ to speak to me." The boy playfully pulled on a lock of her hair as they passed Dita, the two of them oblivious to her presence. "You're my gerel."

"That means nothing to me."

"And I'm not wicked being. I'm a future warlord." The boy lifted his chin proudly. "Soon, I'll be the best warrior in the universe."

"Violence leads to evil and evil leads to an afterlife of nothingness." The girl teased. "You don't tempt me, future warlord."

"The Ruler of the Refuge is training me." Her would-be mate wasn't daunted. "The great Kralj himself deemed me worthy."

"He's a _very_ wicked male." Their voices faded.

Kralj _was_ a very wicked male. Dita grinned. She liked that about him.

Because she was equally wicked. They were two killers, designed to end lives.

She dashed from shadow to shadow, heading toward the structure her targets utilized as their base. The lives she was ending deserved that fate. Todt-931, Todt-932, and Todt-933 were three of the cruelest humanoids who had ever walked the sands of Carinae E.

Before they learned she was tracking them, they had raided unprotected settlements, inflicting unspeakable horrors upon innocent beings. They'd then return to the Refuge, where they had sanctuary.

No one could touch them there. They were protected by Kralj and his rules.

A group of survivors had contacted her, pleading for her help, asking her to hunt the clones, to stop their cruelty, avenge the tortured and the dead. She had planned to ambush the males on one of their raids. It should have been an easy assignment.

But a traitor within the group of survivors had warned the Todts of her presence. Now, the brothers wouldn't leave the settlement, hiding behind its high walls.

Dita had to bring her unique brand of justice to them.

Light spilled from a large open porthole in their structure. The brothers were clearly visible, seated around a horizontal structure.

Todt-931, the leader, lounged at the head, a yellowish tinge to his long white hair, his nose flattened, his purple skin scarred. Todt-932, the second in charge, sat at his right side, his hair ear length, speculation in his purple eyes. Todt-933 sat on the leader's left, his hair cropped close to his head, his body tilted toward his brothers.

All three of them were drinking, laughing, talking, uncaring who heard them. That was how certain they were that no one would kill them within the Refuge.

That confidence would end their lives.

Dita soundlessly slid two daggers from the sheaths on her thighs. She should kill them now, fulfill her promise to the survivors. The first two daggers would eliminate Todt-931 and Todt-932, the first and second clone in command. The third dagger would be drawn and thrown before Todt-933 realized what had happened.

She hesitated.

Not because she knew she'd die. She'd already accepted that fate.

Kralj would read Todt-933's mind, see her through the third clone's eyes, come for her. He was scarily fast. The self-professed monster would reach her before she exited his precious Refuge, would rip her throat out.

The last thing she'd see was his twisted face, his hard eyes.

Dita embraced that future. Assassins didn't have long lifespans. One fuckup and they were dead. And Kralj was worthy of delivering her death. He had gifts unlike any being she'd seen. It would be an honor to have him kill her.

To have his hands on her body, his mouth at her throat.

She trembled, her desire obscene, as inhuman as Kralj was, as she was at her very core. That wanting was why she waited. They were both lonely, warped individuals and she longed for more time with him, more of that rare and bizarre companionship.

Her daggers glided back into their leather holders.

She'd kill the brothers during next rest cycle.

Boots scuffed against the stone pathway behind her. Dita ducked behind a waste receptacle, crouching, making herself even smaller than she already was.

Todt-931, the lead clone, farted loudly. The others laughed and slammed their beverage containers against the horizontal support. No other noises pierced the quiet.

Dita peered around the waste receptacle.

Lights illuminated the flattened stone. There was no sign of life. She waited, waited, waited. No one entered the pathway. She slowly straightened.

A large form stepped out of the darkness. Fuck. She froze. His face was shrouded in shadow but she'd recognize those broad shoulders, muscular chest, long black leather coat anywhere.

Kralj had been watching her. His eyes gleamed, reflecting the light. He had banned her from the Refuge. She had disobeyed him. And he didn't have a reputation for leniency.

She sucked in her breath, held it.

He looked at her for one endless moment. When he gazed at her as he did now, she almost felt like a real female, desirable, feminine, whole.

She wasn't. The guild had ensured she'd never have a regular life.

Kralj didn't say anything, didn't approach her. He strode away, his fingers curled around the handles of two great battle-axes, the blades shining, as deadly and as primitive as he was.

Dita released her breath. He wasn't going to kill her, not yet. She followed Kralj, perversely aroused by him, by his dominant stance, by the weapons he might utilize on her.

She was one messed-up female and he'd realize that, would smell her desire. Her nipples were taut. Her pussy was wet. He'd take her life but she wanted him first, wanted those unsmiling lips on hers, his weight flattening her body, his cock inside her.

Kralj slowed his pace, as though accommodating her shorter stride. He wanted her to track him for some unknown reason. They ventured through a maze of pathways, keeping to the darkness.

She was no longer alone. That warmed Dita's chest. She monitored the space around her, as she suspected he did, and was acutely aware of him, of the way he walked with a predatory looseness, the rolling of his hips, the proud angle of his head, the blackness of his hair, the straightness of his shoulders.

He was leading her somewhere. It wasn't toward the main entrance to the Refuge. They were headed in the opposite direction.

He had another purpose for this stroll.

She hoped it involved touching her, whether with desire or in anger. The first was preferable but she'd take the second. Killers like her couldn't be choosy.

Kralj stopped, ducking into an alcove.

If he was her target, she'd claim the alcove next to him. But he was her killer. Dita sidled close to him, brushing her body against his, sharing his darkness, his warmth.

He stiffened.

She smothered a smile. The male wasn't as indifferent toward her as he acted.

Moments passed.

Dita synchronized her breathing to his and followed his gaze. The domiciles situated across from them were dark. The pathway was empty.

What were they waiting for?

The door to a domicile slid open. A male, almost as large as Kralj, looked out, glanced to the right, to the left. Sweat dripped from the Ungarian's hairy blue face.

He must have thought he was alone because he dashed away from his hiding place. Leather slid along her side, the lightest of caresses. A black blur crossed the pathway. The Ungarian was flung backward, slammed against the side of the domicile with an oomph.

Fuck. She gaped. Kralj was fast.

The cloud of gray surrounding him dissipated. He glanced over his shoulder, found her gaze in the dark, held it for a heartbeat. His lips curled back, revealing sharp, white fangs.

She understood the purpose of the outing then. He would give her a demonstration of his power, of his vengeance. Dita's body ached with need. He'd show her how he killed.

No male had ever done that for her.

Kralj snorted softly, turned his attention toward his dazed target.

"I didn't mean to kill her, sir." The Ungarian held up his great paws in a pathetic surrender. "She lived for planet rotations after I—"

Kralj planted the axes in the male's shoulders, severing both of his arms at once, dipped his head and ripped his prey's throat out, spitting the piece of flesh onto the pathway.

Blood gushed, coating Kralj's face, neck, shoulders, coloring the domicile red. The Ungarian's feet kicked, gurgling noises announcing his impending death. His killer savagely tore at his hairy form, devouring him, feeding.

Kralj was no cold-blooded assassin, trained to end lives quickly and leave undetected. The Ruler of the Refuge ate his prey.

That should have disgusted, not fascinated her.

But there was something natural about it, primal and right. The Ungarian's legs stopped moving. Kralj tore those limbs off with his bare hands, that show of strength impressing Dita.

She couldn't remain silent. "I—"

Kralj flew across the pathway, moving too quickly for her to react. Bloody fingers wrapped around her neck, stopping her flippant comment.

"Don't say a word." He lifted her off the ground. "You disobeyed me, disrespected me." His dark eyes were wild. His face glistened with crimson spray. "I should kill you too." His gaze lowered to her neck.

Unable to speak, she tilted her chin upward, silently offering her throat. Her form shook, terror gripping her. She was in his control, couldn't escape him. Would he end her life, ravage her flesh as he had the Ungarian's?

Kralj became scarily still, looking at her with a pussy-wetting intensity. Blackness edged the perimeters of Dita's vision, swirling toward the center. She resisted the instinct to struggle, forcing her body to remain limp.

"You're fearless, little one." His eyes glittered with respect. He shifted his hands, one at a time, to her shoulders, allowing her to breathe.

She gulped mouthfuls of air, her neck burning.

"I've never met anyone like you." Kralj lowered his head, dragged his fangs over her skin, branding her with blood, with sensation, leaving a trail of pain, slight, stinging, sexy.

She arched her back, pushing her body covering-clad breasts against his chest, needing more contact with him. He growled, a thrilling rumble she felt down to her toes, and he pushed back.

The ridge in his leather ass coverings was long and thick and hard. Kralj was as aroused as she was. He marked her neck with his fangs, the light scratches, the exquisite hurt escalating her passion. The scent of death hung heavy in the air.

Dita wanted to reach for him, to hold onto his shoulders, to cup his scarred face, but the last time she touched him, he had flung her away from him. Instead, she caressed him with her body, undulating against him.

He held her in the air and sucked on her skin. Her heart beat to the tug and pull of his grim lips, her fingers twitched with each prick of his fangs.

"If you had killed those males, I would have ripped out your delicate throat." He lifted his head, perusing that part of her, admiring his handiwork, the patterns he'd left on her. "I would have bathed in your blood."

"You would have drunk from me." Dita shuddered, his threats titillating her. "Taken me inside you." Her voice was hoarse, raw from the abuse she'd endured. "I would have become a part of you."

It was an assassin's fate to be forgotten. He might have remembered her.

Kralj's eyes were as black as the sky above them. "You should be afraid, little one." He lowered her, sliding her form over his, until her boots touched the ground. "I'm a monster."

"I'm a monster, too." Dita smiled sadly at him. She'd once longed to be normal, had dreamed of living a regular, uneventful lifespan, but that would never be possible. Planet rotations filled with killing were all she'd ever have. "You don't scare me."

To be fearful of dying, she would have to care about her life.

"You should be scared." Kralj returned to the dead Ungarian. "I won't tolerate rebellion. It's contagious." He wrenched his battle-axes from the side of the domicile. "The next time you enter the Refuge, you won't leave alive."

"If you catch me."

"I'll catch you," he grumbled. "Your scent is imprinted on my brain." He gazed at the body parts strewn around the pathway, at the puddle of red at his booted feet. "The exit is that way."

A wall of air pushed her in the direction of the gates. "We have another corpse to add to our display."

"It isn't _our_ display." He propelled her faster, walking behind her. "And I'll have two new corpses to add if you return."

"I won't return if you banish the three clones I was watching, Todt-931, Todt-932, and Todt-933, from the Refuge." She could kill them outside the walls, fulfill her mission, and not break any of Kralj's beloved rules. "You know what they've done."

She'd seen the aftermath of the clones' attacks, the butchered children, the pregnant female, beings abused in all of the ways beings could be abused, and it had horrified her, a jaded, worlds-weary assassin.

Kralj would have viewed their assaults through the males' memories. The experience would have been more vivid for him. How could he allow them to live?

"I don't judge beings based on their pasts." His voice was curt, the words snapped off as abruptly as he'd broken the Ungarian's bones.

Residents hastened out of their way as they walked. They were both covered with blood, must look grotesque, like a nightmare come to life.

Dita scowled. "Their pasts are their futures." She had met many males like them. They never changed. "They'll kill again and again."

"Once they walk through my gates, it's their past." He increased their pace, a blast of air against Dita's back propelling her forward.

"They ravaged _babies_ , Kralj." She glanced over her shoulder. How could he give the clones sanctuary, protect them?

His lips were a flat white line, his face like stone. "They ravaged babies outside the Refuge. While they're inside the settlement, they follow the rules."

"You set those rules." She turned, walked backward, trusting him to steer her in the right direction. "You can change them."

"I'm not changing any of my rules, not for them and not for you." There was no softness in his countenance, no relenting. He'd force her to break his precious rules and then kill her for that transgression.

She wouldn't passively accept that fate. "We could hunt them together." Dita changed tactics. "One target for you. Two for me."

He said nothing.

"Okay." She lifted her hands, her palms facing him as though she was trying to stop fate. "Two targets for you. One for me."

Kralj's eyes shone. Was he tempted?

"Kill with me." Dita lowered her voice, not hiding her need for him. "Let your monster play with mine. It will be glorious."

His lips flattened. "My monster would devour yours."

She quivered with delight. "I'd like that."

Kralj studied her for one long moment, then shook his head. "No." He glanced over her right shoulder. "Dare."

A silver scaled Dracheon warrior hastened to open the gates.

"You'd like that too, handsome." She didn't move her gaze from Kralj's face. "Kill with me."

"I said no." He utilized his unique powers, shoving her backward until she stood on the outside of the settlement. "If you're intelligent, you won't enter the Refuge again."

"I'm intelligent, but while I'm seducing sexy males and delivering justice, I think with my heart, not with my head." Dita rested her hands on the guns holstered at her hips. "You'll see me again. Soon." She informed him smugly. "Admit it, Kralj. You want me to break your precious rules."

He gazed at her, his eyes glowing with a nipple-tightening heat. "Good-bye, little one."

The gates closed between them.

Dita smiled. He hadn't denied her accusation.

Kralj wanted her to return to the Refuge, to return to him.

Chapter Three

Kralj had fed his beast the previous rest cycle during his demonstration for a certain assassin. He could last for three more planet rotations without requiring additional nourishment.

There was no need to hunt this rest cycle. His beast should be quiet, sated, controllable.

It wasn't.

It paced back and forth inside him, growling, clawing, testing its restraints. He knew who was responsible for its unrest. It wanted Dita.

She was gone, banished from the settlement, yet she remained with him. The taste of her danced on his tongue. Her sweet scent was imprinted in his brain.

The damn female would return. Kralj prowled around the interior of the Refuge, looking for someone, anyone he could punish, needing to vent his anger, release his rage.

Orol followed him, his wings tucked behind him. His second-in-command chattered about increasing his aerial surveillance.

That wouldn't help. Dita was clever and small and fast, quiet for a human, and more fearless than any warrior he'd met. She had a death wish.

Kralj's fingers folded into fists. He should grant that request, rip her throat out, feast on her blood, end his confusion, his conflict, his torment.

That wasn't what his beast wanted. It sought to breed with her. His cock pressed against the confines of his ass covering, the appallingly apparent bulge concealed by his long coat.

He couldn't even control his own body. Kralj scowled, disgusted with himself. Two nearby females squeaked and scurried away, afraid of him.

They should be frightened. If he lost his hold over his abilities, it would be a bloodbath. Heads would explode. Everyone in the settlement would die.

The memories of his past lapses firmed his determination to regain control.

His beast wanted to fuck. Kralj could give that to it. "Orol, leave me."

The winged male stopped talking and looked at him. Kralj didn't say anything more, his face concealed in shadow. He ruled the settlement. He didn't owe anyone, including Orol, an explanation.

Orol must have come to the same realization. "I'll perform an aerial sweep of the grounds." He nodded and walked away, heading toward a wall, a preferred takeoff point.

Kralj waited until there was distance between them and then glanced around him.

Sari, the breeding female he searched for, stood next to a domicile, her breasts exposed, her ass covering barely concealing her mons. Yorick, her handler, beckoned to passersby in an attempt to increase business.

Kralj didn't desire Sari. She didn't make him wild like Dita did. But that was the point. He should be able to fuck her and not lose control, not put any being in danger.

If that logic didn't hold and he did lose control, the female would die. Which was exactly what she desired.

_Look at me._ Kralj pushed that thought into Sari's mind.

She turned her head and their gazes met. _Fuck. It's him, the Ruler,_ she thought, her eyes widening with terror. _You have to approach him._ The female took a tentative step toward him. _You have to do this, end the guilt._ Her gait was slow, her reluctance palpable. _You were responsible for that girl's death. You knew what that male would do to her. This is what you deserve._

His humanoid side was repelled by her fear, by her view of fucking him as a death sentence, by her need to punish herself for mistakes made in the distant past, in a different settlement. His beast wanted to chase its nourishment, not have it delivered to him.

Both sides desired a different female, a courageous, quiet, sweet-tasting assassin, with brown curly hair and big blue eyes. That one was dangerous...to him, to everyone in the settlement. This one would have to do.

"H-h-hey there, big guy." Sari's teeth clattered.

That was how scary he was. He made a jaded breeding female stutter. _No talking. On your knees._

He didn't use compulsion, although he had that ability. There was no need. The female was terrified of him and dropped to the ground immediately. She wanted to complete this task as quickly as possible, dreaded touching him, her thoughts stabbing at him.

Kralj drifted his fingers over his scarred face, following the trail Dita's fingertips had taken during their first meeting. Only she had ever touched him voluntarily, with tenderness, with passion.

Sari gazed up at him. Her eyes were brown, her expression wary. Her hair was wavy, shoulder length, a color between brown and blonde. Her lips were thin and flat. She didn't smell right.

Kralj should have bent her over a horizontal support and taken her from behind. Then he could have pretended she was the female he truly wanted.

_Unfasten my ass covering._ He gritted his teeth, determined to do this, to ease the pressure in his balls, sate his beast's sexual hunger.

Sari complied, stroking her hands over his bulge as she released him from the garment. His shoulders lowered a bit. The pressure on his cock felt good.

He could do this.

Kralj closed his eyes, using his other senses to monitor the area for threats. In the darkness, all females would be the same. One set of hands, one wet hot mouth would be indistinguishable from another. He'd come quickly and then he'd be in control again, could deal with Dita rationally.

Sari's bare fingers contacted with his shaft and that plan was blown to bits. His beast reared back, snarling. His powerful mind, the more monstrous side of him, also rebelled, protecting itself from the unwanted partner.

One moment, Sari kneeled before him. The next moment, she was flying across the square, screeching, her body airborne.

Kralj erected a soft wall of air behind the breeding female, breaking her fall, saving her from sure-to-be debilitating injuries.

Sari had done nothing wrong. He wouldn't punish her for his response.

He _would_ punish Dita, however. The little assassin would feel his frustration.

_I thought I was dead. I thought it was finally over._ Sari seethed with anger. _But it's not because that sick bastard is playing with me, torturing me._ She glared at him through lowered eyelashes, not foolish enough to confront him openly. _Fuck this and fuck him. There are other ways to end my lifespan._

She scurried quickly away as though she was worried he'd stop her.

He let her go. She wouldn't take action this rest cycle and his beast had made his point clear. It had its primitive heart set on Dita, only wanted her to touch him.

Kralj fastened his ass coverings, his movements sharp, jerky, and he stalked through the settlement, moving aimlessly. Beings rushed out of his path, their thoughts bombarding him, their terror irking him.

Allowing Dita to touch him would be a mistake. He'd lose control, wouldn't be able to curb his powers. Beings would die.

His booted feet, as though mocking him, led him to the domicile of her targets. The males were inside, openly talking about the crimes they'd committed, the pain they'd caused.

Shrouding himself in shadow, Kralj leaned against an exterior wall and forced himself to listen.

"The pregnant females are the best," Todt-931, the leader, boasted. "They cry and plead for me not to hurt their babies, allowing me to do anything I want with them."

"They don't fight you at all." Todt-933, the weakest of the three clones, was eager to please his brother. "That last one willingly took it up the ass."

Kralj's top lip curled. Some of his Humanoid Alliance keepers had tortured the other modified males that way, humiliating and hurting them.

They hadn't dared use him like that. Even his makers feared him.

"When I kill them," Todt-931 continued, ignoring the other male. "I tell them what I'll do with those babies they've tried to protect. The last thing they see is their little bodies in my bloody hands."

The clone laughed and the others joined in, their thoughts more horrifying than their words. They were disturbed individuals, had done brutish things that would sicken the staunchest being, disgust the most seasoned of female assassins.

Those things had been done in the past, Kralj reminded himself.

In the Refuge, a being's personal history was forgotten. Everyone, including the clones, Sari, himself, was given a fresh start. It didn't matter that he'd killed a female he'd viewed as a companion, eating her in a crazed fit of hunger, or that he had once lost control of his powers and decimated an entire settlement, ending the lifespans of not only the residents living there but also the modified humanoids trusting him to lead them, beings he'd foolishly viewed as friends.

He was a different male now, honorable, responsible, in control.

The clones deserved that same opportunity. They hadn't broken his rules, hadn't killed any other being while they were within the settlement.

Their thoughts hadn't changed but neither had his.

His beast still hungered for blood, wanting to kill, to rip out throats. His scarier humanoid side yearned for freedom, the tension inside him constantly there.

Kralj walked the inside perimeters of the settlement, searching, searching. When he reached the west wall, he found it. The most delectable scent filled his lungs, making him lightheaded with need, with wanting.

Dita was close.

Warriors patrolled the walls. Orol, his second in command, flew in lazy circles overhead. None of those skilled males had detected her. Only he had.

What did that mean?

_Mate,_ his beast rumbled.

She wasn't his mate but they were connected. Kralj climbed to the top of the walls the human way, using the stairs jutting from the stone.

His beast panted, thrilled with Dita's proximity. It thought it would breed with her.

His beast would be disappointed. If she dared to climb his walls, Kralj planned to kill the little assassin. He gripped his hands behind his back and walked toward the warrior positioned on that section of wall.

_Your shift has ended._ He pushed that thought into the male's brain, not wanting to give Dita a verbal warning of his intentions.

The male snapped to attention, turned and left.

Kralj gazed at the expanse of white sand outside the walls, studying every dune, trying to detect his prey. He smelled her, her scent teasing his nostrils. His beast wanted to give chase.

He didn't allow that. Dita hadn't done anything wrong. Yet. She remained outside the Refuge. As long as she didn't try to enter the settlement, she was safe from him, from his beast.

"Are you looking for me, handsome?" Her words were spoken in a whisper, from a distance.

His senses were enhanced. He heard Dita clearly, located her concealed on a dune, her oh-so-tempting body covered with sand. His heart pounded. His beast howled with joy.

_Stay there._ Kralj projected that thought into the void, the mental moat around her brain. The emptiness absorbed it, along with some of his energy, his power. He couldn't force her to follow his orders.

He _could_ pin her curvy ass to the ground. He sent a wave of energy over her form.

The damn female laughed, dug deeper in the sand and rolled to the side. "I'd rather have your hands on me."

She jumped to her booted feet and sprinted toward the wall, weaving through the pikes of impaled corpses, not heeding that warning at all.

He blew out his breath, exasperated, excited. She was intent on dying.

Kralj straightened, clasping his hands behind him, and waited. He wouldn't stop her.

Dita leapt onto the wall and scrambled upward, using tiny grooves in the stone as handholds. His lips flattened. He'd assign beings to smooth the surface. That chink in the Refuge's defenses was unacceptable.

She fearlessly climbed. If she made one mistake, he wouldn't have to kill her. She'd fall to her death. Was she concerned? He scowled. Not at all. She smiled up at him, her beauty hitting him like a punch to his gut, and continued scaling his wall.

"I've got her." Orol swooped downward.

Kralj should allow his second-in-command to deal with her. He'd maintain control, wouldn't be tempted by her gentle caresses, her laughing eyes, teasing words.

The winged male unfurled his talons, preparing to grab Dita.

That unleashed a blinding fury inside Kralj, all parts of him incensed, enraged by the action. A male dared to touch _his_ female.

"Mine," he roared, blasting his rival with energy, flinging him backward.

Orol flipped over and over, howling his displeasure, struggling to right himself, to stay in the skies. It took him several moments before his flight leveled.

Guilt increased Kralj's anger. Orol had been trying to safeguard the settlement, had viewed Dita as the threat she was. He didn't know she was Kralj's foe to fight, his weakness to overcome.

_She belongs to me,_ he communicated by thought. _No one else touches her._

"I didn't know." Orol's tone was apologetic. _He wants her?_ His private insights irked Kralj. _He has never expressed caring for any female._

He didn't _care_ for Dita. Kralj gritted his teeth. She was his prey.

_What's so special about her?_ The winged male soared above Dita, his keen gaze fixed on her ascending form. _He can't read her thoughts. Is that the attraction?_

The quietness, the mystery, the challenge of figuring out her next move was appealing. Kralj couldn't deny that. But it wasn't the extent of his attraction.

Her tiny size invoked his protective instincts. Her strength and skill earned his admiration. Her intellect stimulated his enhanced brain. Her scent and sheer femininity aroused other parts of his body.

She was everything a being like him could want—sexy, deadly, clever. His beast, his mind, his entire being ached for her.

Her death would end that torment.

Slender fingers curled over the edge of the wall. Her skin was calloused, her fingernails blunt. They were hands belonging to a powerful female, one unafraid of taking action.

He resisted the urge to assist her. If she wanted to die, she'd have to take the final step on her own.

Dita heaved herself upward, standing before him, a triumphant grin on her gorgeous face. "You missed me, didn't you?"

Her flippancy snapped his restraint. He rushed toward her, wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her to him, smacking her breasts against his chest, her hips against his. "I told you what would happen if you entered my settlement again."

She tilted her head back to meet his gaze. "I haven't entered your settlement." Her blue eyes glowed. "I'm standing on your walls."

Fuck. She was right. She hadn't entered his settlement.

That didn't stop him from wanting to punish her. Kralj threaded his fingers through Dita's dark curls. It was the softest substance he'd ever touched. He twisted her hair around his hand, tugging it tighter and tighter.

She winced but didn't protest his rough treatment of her, standing her ground, not backing down. "Does your monster want to play with mine?"

"You wouldn't survive my monster." And it wanted to do more than play. It wanted to devour her whole. He dipped his head, skimmed his lips over her exposed neck. Blood pumped through a vein there. Kralj breathed deeply. Would she taste as delicious as she smelled?

"Is that a challenge?" She lifted one leg, twined it around him. Kralj felt her heat through the layers of leather. "I like challenges."

"You won't like this one." He pulled her head back, licked up her neck, over her chin.

Her lips parted. He captured them, thrusting his tongue between her blunt white teeth. She gasped at the invasion yet didn't retreat.

Their tongues dueled for dominance, sparring, stabbing, feinting left, jabbing right. His beast growled, elated by the contest, by her unique flavor, her strength, the gentle curves of their female.

And, in this moment, she _was_ theirs. He kept his grip on her hair, lowered his other hand to her ass, squeezing and releasing, squeezing and releasing. She rocked against him, grinding her mons against the bulge in his ass covering.

He saw no fear in her eyes, no reluctance to touch him. All he viewed was passion, wild and willing and achingly beautiful. Kralj dragged his fangs over her bottom lip, the urge to taste her blood almost unbearably acute.

Need drummed at him. His beast fought to be freed. The rumbling coming from his chest grew and grew, vibrating his body against hers.

As though she realized what he craved, Dita pushed against his fangs. Kralj stopped moving, knowing if he didn't, the sharp tips would puncture her flesh.

She met his gaze. He read her intentions. His heart pounded and his beast howled. She impaled her bottom lip on his fangs.

Pain flashed in her eyes. Her muscles flexed against him. The damn female kept pushing until his fangs were fully in her.

One yank and he'd shred her fragile flesh. Kralj remained still, fighting the compulsion to suck, to drink from her. Her fingers clenched and unclenched his shoulders. She slowly withdrew her lip. Blood flooded his mouth, the sweetest, most delectable liquid he'd ever tasted.

He took one sip of it and he was lost.

The wind whipped around them. Stone rocked, the wall threatening to crumble beneath their booted feet. Beings would die due to his lack of restraint and he no longer cared.

All he knew was her.

Chapter Four

Dita knew the moment Kralj let go.

The stars glowing in his dark eyes went supernova. Gusts of wind batted against her back. The wall shook. He sucked on her bottom lip as though his life depended on her blood.

His reaction both thrilled and frightened her. He wanted her more than anyone had ever wanted her and she would survive his monster.

But the beings below them might not.

Dita bracketed his face with her hands. "Direct that power into me, handsome."

Her voice was muffled by his lips yet he must have understood. He gazed at her with a heart-stopping intensity. The shaking stopped. The wind eased.

He needed her, needed this.

He simply didn't realize that. Not yet.

She slipped her hands between the folds of his long coat, glided her fingers over his collarbone, found the ridges on one of his shoulders. Those were the only scars she could feel. His pecs were flat and defined and perfect. His abs were finely sculpted, fluttering under her palms. He was hard and warm.

Her wounds healed and he opened them again, piercing her flesh in the exact same place, the pain thrilling her, wetting her pussy. He didn't withdraw, sucking her blood though his fangs. Her entire body throbbed to the same rhythm, to that erotic tug and pull. Everywhere he touched, she tingled and fizzed.

He was devouring her and she was savoring him, relishing the rare contact in an otherwise solitary lifespan. She would die by his hand, not now but soon. This would be her last mission. This could be her last kiss.

She wanted more. Dita rubbed her hands over the bulge in his ass coverings. He was long and thick, excitingly erect, pressing against the black leather. She pressed back, stroking him, and he moaned, the sound stuck deep in his chest, rattling around, unable to find release.

She'd help him escape his confines, topple his self-erected walls. Dita unfastened his ass covering, slid her hands inside, touched hot, hard cock. He jerked, rearing backward.

"Shhh...I have you," she murmured, pumping him. "Drink from me while I take care of you."

Kralj glanced downward, between them, at her fingers curled around his shaft. His gaze lifted to her bottom lip. She felt the blood beading on her flesh, withstood the urge to swipe it away with her tongue.

"I can't resist you." His head dipped once more. He drew her lip into his mouth, pulling on it. Her shoulders lowered. He wouldn't stop her, wouldn't fling him from her, banishing her from his side as he had in the past.

She ran her hands up and down his cock. He was the softness of a worn leather sheath over the rigidity of a dagger's blade, his hairless base reminding her he was more than human. This male was a weapon, savage, deadly, designed to kill without mercy.

Dita straddled his right leg, moving against him, pleasuring herself as she worked his shaft. She skimmed her thumbs around his rim and he shuddered, the wind gaining speed around them. Encouraged, she grazed her fingers over his cockhead, spreading his pre-cum along his cock. His essence tingled also.

What would that sensation feel like inside her? Would she find out or would he kill her before they had the chance to fuck?

The puncture wounds closed again. She had never healed that quickly. He must be responsible for her newfound ability.

"I could suck you dry." Kralj's voice was hoarse, his eyes turbulent with emotion.

"I want to suck you dry," she admitted. Would he allow her to take him into her mouth?

His hold on her hair eased. "I won't be gentle with you."

Was he capable of being gentle? She smiled, amused by that thought. "I don't want gentle. I want your monster."

His eyes narrowed. "He'll rip you apart."

"He's already ripping me apart." Dita burned for him, for his rough handling, his pain-encased pleasure.

"Am I hurting you?" His expression turned bleak.

"You can't hurt me," she assured him. "And, if you give me that power of yours, you won't hurt others. Not while you're with me."

Kralj looked skeptical. "You don't know the extent of my powers."

That was true. His mind might have the ability to kill her and everyone around them. "You don't know the extent of mine." She would take that risk to have this experience, this connection with another being.

He gazed at her.

Dita didn't look away from him, didn't hide her need. She wanted this, him.

"On your knees." He shoved her shoulders.

She lowered before him. Her body covering protected her knees from the rough stone.

The garment wouldn't protect her against him. His fingers found purchase in her hair once more, tinges of hurt zinging over her scalp. His cockhead bumped against her lips.

Fuck. He was huge. Dita was daunted by his size.

"Are you certain you want this?" he asked. Her doubt must have showed.

She was touched by his concern. If he was truly a monster, and Dita had met plenty of those in her lifespan, he wouldn't have sought confirmation. He would have taken her mouth, uncaring of her wishes.

"I want this more than I want to kill my targets." She ran her hands along the v where his lower abs met his hip flexors. His muscles undulated. He was extremely sensitive to her touch. She doubted many females had handled his body, yet he was allowing her this honor.

She was an assassin, known for only one thing—ending lives. Others feared her. They didn't trust her.

Yet he did. He was giving her that gift.

"You're not killing your targets inside my settlement." Kralj's grip on her curls tightened. "Open your mouth."

Dita obeyed him, showing him the same trust he showed her. A monster would have thrust deep. He pushed his cock between her parted lips, feeding her his length slowly, allowing her to manage his girth.

She grasped his hips with her fingers, cradled his shaft with her tongue, and gazed up at him. The shadows around them had lifted. All of his face was revealed.

He was the image of survival, of strength. His scars were vicious and deep, a testament to his unbending will. A weak male wouldn't have endured that pain.

She suspected the scars on his soul were even deeper.

His eyebrows had lowered over his eyes, all of his fierce concentration on her, on the face fucking he was certain to give her. His jaw was clenched, her controlled male holding back the release he clearly wanted.

This powerful warrior was placing the most vulnerable part of himself in her hands, technically in her mouth. With one snap of her teeth, she could bring him to his knees.

She curled back her top lip, communicating that.

His eyes gleamed. "I've survived worse, little female."

Dita frowned around his shaft. He might have been referring to his face. But she suspected he wasn't. Someone had damaged that glorious cock of his.

That angered her. That part of him belonged to her now.

His tip tapped the back of her throat. Kralj yanked on her hair, forcing her head back and shoved the rest of him inside her.

A normal human female would have gagged but Dita was far from normal. The Dark Veil, her assassin guild, had ensured that. Part of her training had consisted of gun barrels being jammed as deeply as possible into her mouth, being forced to hold her breath until she lost consciousness.

Dita sealed her lips around his base and stared up at him, her eyes watering, daring him to test her. She could take anything he gave her.

"You _are_ a monster." Awe colored his voice and Dita felt a burst of pride. She had impressed the cynical male. He withdrew to his tip. "You're about to meet mine, Dita."

He surged forward, holding her steady, not allowing her to escape him, not stopping until she took all of him again. His shadow wrapped around them, casting them into darkness. She quivered, her pussy dripping, his dominance stimulating her.

Kralj retreated and surged forward, retreated and surged forward, pounding into her mouth, his base smacking against her lips, his balls slapping her chin. She clutched his hips as he used her hard, expelling all of his darkness, all of his pain.

It was cathartic for her also, being utilized as a vessel, not as a sword, as a bringer of personal peace rather than a deliverer of death. She stroked his hips, his thighs. He parted his legs, bracing his booted feet apart and she caressed his taint, the sensitive skin between his ass and his balls.

The rumbling in his chest grew louder. The air circled faster, whipping his coat against her, against his legs, the pain escalating their arousal. Her male, her killer, her world for the moment, liked a bit of agony with his bliss, as she did.

She fluttered her tongue against his shaft. He ravished her with more intensity, savagely plunging in and out of her mouth. Her lips hummed. Her jaw ached.

Dita cupped his balls, rolled them in her fingers, and he lost control of his rhythm, his thrusting turning sporadic, his technique all over the place. His eyes blazed. His breathing harshened, his chest rising and falling as though he fought for every intake of air.

She did that—made this powerful male lose his grip on his restraint. That knowledge was as sexy as all space.

Someone had told her when beings died, moments of their lifespan flashed through their mind. Dita wanted this to be one of those moments, the image of Kralj looming above her, his scarred face twisted in passion, his cock in her mouth.

Kralj drove into her with an intensity bordering on madness. His balls had drawn up tight to his body. The muscles in his legs, his abs, flexed.

He was close. All he needed was a push.

Dita would give it to him. She waited until his base touched her lips and then she sucked. As her cheeks indented around his shaft, she squeezed his balls.

Kralj flung his head back and howled, the sound blasting upward. His shadow parted, displaying stars on a covering of black. Hot cum spurted from his tip, shot down her throat. That pure ecstasy hit her stomach.

Dita screamed, the sound muffled by the huge cock in her mouth. He had warned he'd rip her to parts and he had. She was shredded by a thought-stopping pleasure. Mindlessly, she sucked, swallowed, came, sucked, swallowed, came, clinging to Kralj, the center of the storm inside her and the vortex of the wind rushing around them.

He shuddered and shook yet didn't collapse, standing tall in front of her. She drained every drop of cum from his cock, licked him clean, flicking her tongue over his tip, his shaft, his balls. He released his death grip on her hair and petted it, smoothing the wayward curls, his caresses unexpected, comforting.

"Did I harm you?" His voice was edged with a gratifying concern.

He cared about her, an assassin. No one else did. "My body covering protected my knees."

"Did I harm you with my powers?" Kralj cupped her chin, lifting her gaze. "I had to transfer them to you." He searched her eyes. "It was...too much."

He had lost control with her. That pleased her.

"You didn't harm me." Dita rested one of her flushed cheeks against his right thigh. "I survived your monster." She smiled. "Barely. That last bit was..." She paused, uncertain how to describe it. "Unexpected." She quivered with delight.

"You haven't seen all of my monster yet." His fingers returned to her hair. "And that _last bit_ , as you call it, was due to my nanohumanics."

"Are they like a cyborg's nanocybotics?" She had studied cyborgs during assassin training. The half-human, half-machine warriors were the Humanoid Alliance's preferred weapons.

"They're similar. They allow us to heal quickly. We don't age."

Healing quickly would be beneficial in her line of work. Aging was irrelevant. Assassins didn't die of natural causes. "Who is us?"

"Modified humanoids, beings created by the Humanoid Alliance to fight their wars." Kralj separated the strands of her hair with his fingers.

"They use cyborgs now."

"They're machines. The Humanoid Alliance believes they can control them."

They couldn't control him. Her heart warmed with admiration. He had escaped them. "The fizzing and popping inside me hasn't stopped. Will I live forever now too?" she joked.

"You can die." His body stiffened and she regretted her words. "As you'll find out if you enter the Refuge."

"I won't have to enter the Refuge if you banish the clones." But she knew he wouldn't. He had his rules and would follow them. They were at a stalemate once more.

"This was a mistake." Kralj stepped back, dragging her along the stone.

"The mistake is already made." Dita didn't release him. "Give us a few more moments. My monster has been solitary for a long time."

His jaw jutted. She thought he'd refuse her request.

Much to her surprise, Kralj released a ragged breath and stopped moving. "My monster has been solitary since the planet rotation I was engineered."

Since the planet rotation he was engineered. He'd been conceived in a laboratory, had never known a family, a mother, a father, had never experienced love, companionship.

"It must have been a lifespan of loneliness for you." It was a loneliness she had shared.

"Many human lifespans." His hands burrowed into her hair. He seemed fascinated with that part of her. "The nanohumanics will fade in time. You won't have that curse."

She wouldn't have that curse, as he called it, because she planned to enter the Refuge and kill her targets. Kralj would then end her life. She explored his legs with her fingers, examining the swell of his calves, the straight line of his shins, the dips in his knees.

"Don't make me kill you, little one." His voice was whisper soft. "Spare me that pain."

She wished she could do that. "I told the survivors I'd avenge their loved ones, ensure the clones wouldn't return to end their lifespans too. You have your rules, your Refuge, the beings here." She envied him that. "All I have is my ability to kill and my word. I won't break it."

Kralj sighed. "Then don't return until another rest cycle has passed." He drew her to her booted feet, looked into her eyes. "Give me that much."

He had seen her climb the wall. Being an intelligent male, he would block that method of entry.

"Spend that rest cycle with me and I'll wait." She wanted some compensation for the increased difficulty. "There are other targets outside these walls." Although she hadn't vowed to kill those targets, they were evil and needed their lives ended. "We can hunt one of them."

Dita hadn't hunted with another being since she'd completed training. She'd like to share that experience with him.

"I don't leave the Refuge." He denied her that opportunity.

"Ever?" She gazed at him, shocked.

"If I leave, it puts every resident at risk." His lips flattened. "The only thing that keeps the peace inside the Refuge is the knowledge that I monitor every being's thoughts. I know what they will do before they do it and have the power to stop them."

"You're trapped." As she was, by responsibility, but at least she could venture where she pleased on Carinae E, the planet the assassins' guild had assigned to her.

"I have vows to uphold."

He'd promised the residents safety. Dita didn't argue with him. She understood honor, valued it in herself, in others, in him. "Then allow me inside your walls. You choose the target. We'll hunt there."

His lips twisted. "You'll kill the clones."

"I won't kill them this rest cycle or the next, if we hunt together." She could wait that long to fulfill her vow. "I give you my word."

Kralj lifted his eyebrows.

"Don't question my word, handsome." She placed her hands on her hips. "Not unless you want a dagger in your gut."

"You move too slowly to hurt me and I wasn't questioning your word." He pulled her against his body, not allowing any distance between them. "I was questioning your restraint."

"I have plenty of restraint." She wiggled, brushing her mons over his semi hard cock. "We'll have fun, Kralj. Agree to this. You won't regret it."

"I already regret it." He shook his head. "But I agree to it."

She hadn't expected her stubborn, rule-driven male to say yes. It took her a moment to absorb that he had capitulated to her demands.

"Yes!" Happiness, pure and fierce, surged through her. She jumped upward. He caught her. She wrapped her legs around his waist. "This will be fantastic." She kissed him hard.

Chapter Five

A planet rotation had passed, the sun had set, and Dita hadn't yet returned to the Refuge. Kralj refused to lurk by the gates like some lovelorn youngster. That role was reserved for Hulagu, his unwanted protégé, the boy having found his gerel, his fated mate, the lucky bastard.

Contrary to what his beast believed, Kralj had no fated mate. He stalked through the settlement, his entire being concealed in shadow. Storms raged inside him and around him.

Residents hurried out of his way.

Dita, that damn female, should be dead. His beast had never tasted a being and not killed him or her. Yet it refused to harm his tiny tormenter, sipping her blood rather than devouring her flesh.

Hunting with Dita would change that. He'd planned the rest cycle carefully. When the sun rose, there would be only one body to impale upon a stake—hers.

His world would then return to normal.

There would be no teasing, no tempting, no breaking of his rules. He wouldn't need Dita to absorb his powers because he'd have them under control.

No one would touch him and he'd touch no one. The shadow around Kralj thickened. He'd be alone once more, the first, last, only of his kind.

That wasn't what he wanted but that was what had to be.

He prowled around the Refuge, causing residents to flee, scurrying out of his path. They were all scared of him. As they should be.

Only one small reality-challenged brunette dared to cross him.

Kralj smelled her delicious scent and his mood lightened. "How did you enter the Refuge?" There had been no witnesses. Their thoughts would have warned him.

"Don't worry." She exited the darkness and skipped along beside him, a big smile on her beautiful face. "I didn't mess up your pretty walls." She tilted her head, gazing at him. "Did you do that for me?"

He had every crack in his walls sealed, including the structure-compromising one he had added when she'd wrapped her lips around his cock, taking him into her hot mouth.

Those repairs _had_ been completed for her, to prevent the tiny assassin from climbing his walls. It hadn't stopped her. "Stay by my side."

He wanted to keep her in his sightlines at all times. Kralj told himself that precaution was for the safety of the residents. His beast had other reasons for wanting her close.

"Relax, handsome. The clones are safe from me this rest cycle." She slid one of her hands over his right arm and his inner animal howled with happiness. "I keep my promises."

Could he keep his promise to himself? She was as unique as he was, the only being he'd met whom he couldn't control.

But he had to kill her.

Rules had to be followed. When they weren't, when the monstrous side of him roamed free, unencumbered by any restraints, innocent beings died.

"Look at us." She squeezed his arm. "We look almost normal, like a regular courting couple."

"We're not a couple." And they were far from normal.

_Mate,_ his beast rumbled.

_Prey,_ he corrected. She had to be killed.

Oblivious to his dark thoughts, Dita hummed happily, extracted two daggers from her torso sheaths, spun them in her hands. The blades didn't reflect any of the pathway's lights.

"They're specially crafted." Her eyes glowed. "I can make some for you if you'd like."

He'd like to have something of hers. He'd like that too much.

"I don't need them." Kralj had a collection of weapons. Some weapons had been given to him as gifts, tokens of gratitude for his protection. Some weapons he had crafted for himself. The Refuge was home to some of the best weapons designers in the universe.

"That's true." She nodded. "You don't need them. Those fangs of yours can shred a being in mere moments."

That would have appalled a normal female. She laughed, the sound like music dancing on the breeze.

He wanted her again, still, always.

"Tell me about our target." Dita bounced on the balls of her feet, her excitement palpable. "Which one of your rules did he break?"

"Our prey is female and she hasn't broken any rules yet." He stopped at the corner the breeding females frequented, slipping into a dark alcove.

Sari half-heartedly gestured to passersby, flashing her breasts at them. This would be her last planet rotation in the Refuge. She planned to kill herself, to put an end to the guilt she was feeling, the nightmares she experienced about the female she had sent to her death.

Kralj would intervene before that task was undertaken and evict her. The thrill of the chase combined with the thwarted kill would frustrate his beast. Normally, he'd pair an eviction with another hunt. This rest cycle, that prey would be Dita.

She sheathed one of her daggers. "But our target will break a rule?" Dita pressed against his side, her eyes bright with curiosity.

He felt her warmth to his bones. "If I don't stop her, she will."

"You know that for certain?" She skimmed her knuckles over his thigh, a light, teasing caress. "She could change her mind."

"She won't." Kralj could detect the difference between a passing thought and a set intention. "But I'll wait and watch. I won't take action until she does."

" _We'll_ wait and watch." Dita snuggled closer to him, her blade in her hand, the combination of soft female and deadly weapon arousing him. " _We_ won't take action until she does."

Kralj fought against touching her and lost. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her to him.

"This is nice." Dita's sigh contained pure happiness, a happiness he also experienced. "Why do you view them as prey, not targets?"

He'd never been asked that question. No one dared to ask him much of anything. "I'm part beast, part monster."

His little assassin knew of his beast side. She'd seen him kill, had witnessed how he'd ripped out a prey's throat, feasted on his flesh.

Yet she had chosen to be with him, had negotiated for the privilege.

He stroked her side, savoring her closeness, her slight curves.

"I'm a monster also." Her dark brown curls rubbed against his leather coat. "I refer to them as targets."

She thought his beast was his monster. She didn't understand they were different entities, his beast the less deadly of the two.

"You're not part Beta Taurian Shadow Beast." He doubted she'd heard of the creature. Few beings had.

"A Beta Taurian Shadow Beast, huh?" Dita gazed at him with more respect. "I've studied them." She surprised him with that revelation. "That explains your fangs, your control of the darkness around you, your speed, strength, lust for blood. They're savage creatures, some of the fiercest predators in the universe." Only she would say that with approval. She was an unnatural female. "They're not very clever, though. That's their one weakness. You, however, have intelligence to spare."

"My humanoid side compensates for the beast's lack of intelligence." He was the total killing package.

"Your brain is more than humanoid."

"My brain is enhanced." He accessed areas of it normal humanoids didn't and the Humanoid Alliance had amplified all of his brain activity.

That created problems. His predecessors, able to control their surroundings from inside their chambers, refused to leave them. They wouldn't hunt the Humanoid Alliance appointed prey. Part beast, he didn't have that issue. His savage side lived for the hunt.

"You're more than humanoid." Dita wiggled, brushing her ass against his already hard cock. "I'm less than human." Her laughter held little humor. "We make a great team, you and I."

"We're not a team." He had to kill her.

Action on the corner thankfully diverted Dita. Sari had attracted a customer, a small, slight human male. He wasn't the being the breeding female was waiting for, the being with the gun she'd arranged to purchase, Sari's thoughts told Kralj. But to not service him would draw Yorick's attention and she wished to avoid her handler.

Sari led the male by the hand into the alleyway, easing his nervousness with overblown flattery. She didn't stutter once.

Dita raised her eyebrows, silently asking if the breeding female was their prey.

Kralj nodded and followed the pair, his tread soundless, his face and body masked by the shadow he controlled. Dita wasn't content to merely walk beside him. She crawled up walls, leapt across rooftops, silent and quick, her antics vastly entertaining his beast.

The little assassin was skilled, almost his match for stealth. Only her delectable scent gave her away, tickling his nostrils, coiling in his lungs.

The breeding female and her customer finally found a place meeting the shy male's approval. Sari dropped to her knees, unfastening his ass coverings. The scent of face fucking filled the air.

Kralj's gaze drifted upward. As Dita watched the couple, she glided her hands over her body, touching herself through her skin-tight garment.

Fuck. She was a temptress.

It would be a long rest cycle.

* * *

By the time, the Palavian weapons dealer contacted Sari, Kralj's control was stretched to the breaking point. He silently trailed them, moving through the maze of darkened pathways, and he tried to ignore the female on the rooftop above him.

That was an impossible task. Dita had partially unfastened her body covering, revealing the valley between her high, firm breasts. He wanted to lick that pale skin, sink his fangs into her curves, peel the rest of the garment from her form.

Prey. She was prey, he reminded himself, returning his attention to Sari.

"Do you have the gun?" The breeding female whispered to the Palavian. _Say no. Say no. Say no._ Her thoughts repeated the answer she truly desired.

Dita could be right. Sari could change her mind.

"You owe me one last payment." The Palavian grabbed the breeding female, turned her around, bent her over.

Fear flickered in Sari's brain, there one moment, banished the next. _This is the Refuge_. She clung to that fact. _He can't kill me. He can only hurt me._

_This_ was why he couldn't break the rules, not even for Dita. Other beings relied upon them being upheld.

"You're a take-command male." Sari grabbed the wall. "I love it."

She lied. She hated it.

The Palavian yanked up the strip of fabric covering Sari's ass, unfastened his ass coverings, kicked her legs farther apart, and started rutting into her, uncaring of the breeding female's pleasure.

Sari grunted, repeating curse words over and over in her brain.

Kralj had used the little assassin as roughly as the Palavian used Sari, ravishing Dita's mouth, forcing her to take him, uncaring of her satisfaction.

Had she felt the same disgust toward him, toward the act?

He glanced upward. The damn female hung off the edge of a roof, the strength in her lithe body reassuring him.

If she had hated their encounter, she would have fought him. She wouldn't have moaned around his cock, her blue eyes dark with passion.

The grunting grew louder. The Palavian's pace became frenzied.

Kralj's beast clawed at his insides. It didn't care about hunting, about killing. It wanted to breed with its mate, to create baby monsters.

That wouldn't, couldn't happen. Kralj would kill every being on the planet before he allowed that.

The Palavian pushed his hips forward and groaned his release, his ass cheeks clenching. He stayed like that for a moment.

"You're a good fuck, Sari." The male slapped the female's ass. "I'd do business with you again." He stepped back, tucked his limp cock into his ass coverings, fastened the garment. "The gun is loaded but if you need more ammunition, I'm your male."

She wouldn't need more ammunition. It would only take one projectile to end her lifespan.

Not that Kralj would allow that.

Sari straightened, pushed her ass covering back into place. Cum dripped down her leg. "I'll keep that in mind." The breeding female accepted the gun with trembling fingers.

"You do that." The Palavian squeezed her right breast and strolled away, not asking why she needed the gun. The male didn't care. She was a replaceable female.

Dita, in contrast, wasn't replaceable. Kralj had lived many human lifespans. He knew that.

He didn't know if he could destroy her. Did he have that strength?

Sari, the breeding female, was struggling with her willpower also. She sank to her knees and stared at the gun, her thoughts churning with second, third, seventh thoughts.

Many moments passed.

Too many for his impatient little assassin. Dita swung off the edge of the roof, somersaulted in the air and landed on Kralj's shoulders, her leather-clad pussy pressing against the back of his neck, the aroma of her arousal teasing his nostrils.

A sense of rightness layered over Kralj like a warm covering cloth.

"I recognize that look in her eyes." Dita leaned over him. "I've seen it in the beaten, the battered, the hopeless. There's no victim, is there? She plans to kill herself."

Kralj didn't answer.

Being a clever female, his little assassin didn't require confirmation. "She should be sent to a medic. She shouldn't be killed."

"We're evicting her from the Refuge." We. That word sounded good on his tongue.

Dita's hands slid down his chest, under his jacket, her palms rough and warm and wonderful against his bare skin. "Will that help her?"

"Helping her isn't my responsibility." The delay between the suicide attempt and the eviction might cause Sari to rethink her decision. Her despair could morph into anger. She might rediscover the will to live.

Or she might not. Kralj touched his scarred face. Once she was outside the Refuge's walls, she wasn't his concern.

Sari lifted the gun.

"We should stop her." Dita lunged forward.

"No." Kralj strapped his arms around her legs, securing her in place. "That's not our task."

It might be someone else's role. Two beings ran toward them, their treads heavy, their voices and laughter becoming louder with each step.

Kralj inwardly groaned as he recognized the individuals. Hulagu, his would-be protégé, had a history of showing up where he shouldn't be, adding complications to otherwise straightforward scenarios. He would prefer the young warrior remain far away from Dita.

"I'm hunting you." Hulagu made enough noise during his so-called hunt to wake a corpse. "You can't escape me."

"I _will_ escape you, future warlord." Azalea teased. "I'm leaving the settlement soon. Who will you hunt then?"

"I'll hunt you, always you." The Chamele warrior-in-training reached out to her. "You're not leaving me." He tugged on her flight suit.

Azalea squealed, ran faster. Hulagu caught her and swung her around to face him, pressing her shoulders against the side of a domicile. Light shone down on the young female's face.

"No." Sari gasped. "It can't be you. You're dead."

The resemblance between Azalea and the girl whose death Sari had caused was slight. They had the same colored eyes and hair. But Sari saw what she wanted to see—a chance to redeem herself, to right past wrongs.

"Hulagu." Azalea pushed against his chest. "Stop it. We're not alone."

The young male turned quickly, claws extending from his hands.

"You're not her." Sari dropped her gun, metal clattering against stone. "You look the same but your voice is different."

"Are you hurt?" Azalea walked around Hulagu, approaching the breeding female without caution, no concerns or fear in her innocent heart. "Why are you sitting on the pathway?"

"I was about to..." Sari glanced at the gun. "And you arrived, stopping me. You resemble her. That can't be a coincidence." She stared at the young female, her eyes wide. "It has to be destiny. This is my opportunity to make amends."

A sense of purpose had banished the breeding female's despair. She wouldn't attempt to kill herself, not this planet rotation.

He was no longer needed. Expanding his shadow to include the little assassin on his shoulders, Kralj strode toward the settlement's gates.

"Where are we going?" Dita whispered.

"The hunt is over."

"Will there be another hunt?" She slid down his back, rubbing her curves over his muscle, leaving a trail of friction and heat. "I want to kill with you."

He wanted that too. "There won't be another hunt." Kralj denied both himself and her.

"Are you certain?" Dita moved beside him. "There must be one more tar...prey we can pursue." She used his word and that pleased him. "Someone skilled, violent, fast. I like it when they run."

His beast liked that also.

"And I love watching you eat what you kill. That makes me so hot." She danced around him, touching him, caressing him, teasing him. "Don't you want to feed?"

He did want to feed and she knew that. His little assassin was deliberately provoking him.

She was fearless and clearly disturbed and that made him harder than he'd ever been, his balls aching with need.

Kralj increased his pace, forcing her to jog beside him.

His balls would have to suffer because he wouldn't take her, wouldn't fuck any part of her, not again. It didn't matter how much he wanted her.

Residents rushed out of his way, their minds blank with terror.

He told himself the lack of fucking was a punishment, that he didn't deserve the pleasure of being inside her.

The truth was, he sensed, if he found release in Dita one more time, he wouldn't do the right thing, wouldn't kill her when she broke his rules.

He didn't know if he was strong enough to do that now.

"Don't pursue the clone targets, little one." He told her again, hoping she'd listen.

"I've never not eliminated a target." She flitted around him, her booted feet making no sound on the stone pathway.

"I've never warned my prey." He spotted Orol lurking in the shadows. "There's a first time for everything."

"We could hunt one of your males." Dita spotted his second-in-command also. "Without killing them, of course. They might enjoy the exercise."

_I like this female._ Orol's unspoken admiration irked Kralj. _I see why the boss is enamored with her._

He wasn't _enamored_ with her _._ Kralj curled back his lips, baring his teeth at the male. But she _was_ his. No other male should be looking at her.

Orol raised his palms and hastily backed away from them.

"If you don't want to hunt, we could find other things to do." She clasped one of Kralj's hands and swung his arm. "There's no need for our courting encounter to end."

There was every need for it to end. "We're not on a courting encounter." Kralj gazed pointedly down at their linked fingers. He was the ruler of the Refuge, a primitive being and she was treating him like a play friend.

"Oh, I think we are." She grinned, not releasing his hand.

He tugged it out of her grip. "Beings don't hunt while on courting encounters." That was a guess. He'd never been on one.

"Don't they?" She tilted her head to the side. "The Chamele boy was chasing the settler girl. They appeared to be on a courting encounter."

"They're not monsters." Hulagu didn't have to kill Azalea. "And their hunts don't end with death."

"Ours didn't end with death either." Dita sounded as disappointed as he was about that. "Though our next one could end that way."

"There will be no next one."

They reached the main entrance to the Refuge. Kralj should push her through the open gates, close them behind her, locking her out of his settlement and out of his soul.

He couldn't do it.

"I know what we could do." Dita stepped toward him, leaning her body against his, and his beast panted, salivating over her touch. "We could fuck."

All parts of him liked that idea. His cock pushed against his leather ass coverings. "We're not fucking, as you so crudely put it." If he fucked her again, their connection would tighten and that would make killing her much more difficult. "Our garments remain on."

"But—"

"I have to complete a perimeter check." Kralj tightened his grip on her hand and continued moving south, forcing her to join him.

He'd expel her from the settlement before the sun rose. A few more moments with her wouldn't change anything.

They walked. She talked, telling him about the targets she'd hunted, giving him every gory detail about each kill; her stories stimulating his brain, enthralling his beast; her voice swirling around him, warm and deep and soothing.

He overheard every spoken word and every thought of every being within his telepathic range. Listening to her shouldn't have been much different.

But it was. She was unlike any being he'd ever encountered, surprising and fascinating him. He didn't want her to stop talking, to stop sharing her stories.

They passed more of his males. That wasn't a coincidence. They were curious about Dita, all of them viewing her as his female.

That misconception would be corrected when he killed her.

The perimeter check was completed too quickly for Kralj's liking. He wasn't yet ready to let her go. Instead, he led her to the top of one of the newly repaired walls.

He sat on the stone, drawing her downward, positioning her between his legs. She leaned back, resting her head on his shoulder, her slender hands on his.

She was so small, so feminine, so right, leather-encased passion, heavily-armed softness. He breathed in her distinctive fragrance, ran his hands over her arms, chest, hips, exploring her form, learning it.

"You can feed from me, if you'd like." She offered him her fragile neck.

He'd like that. Too much. "You've seen me feed."

"I have." Dita shuddered, the musk of her arousal fogging his enhanced brain. "You're magnificent."

Only the deluded female in his arms would think so. "I'd rip you apart."

Her slender shoulders rose and fell. "Assassins have short lifespans. I accepted that a long time ago."

Kralj didn't want to talk about her acceptance of her death. His beast, agitated by the topic, paced inside him, testing his restraints, growling with discontentment.

"Don't feel any guilt over what you have to do, handsome." She stroked his fingers. "You've been upfront about your rules. I'm choosing to break them. I know the consequences and I welcome them, more now than I did when we first met." She massaged his knuckles, round and round, rubbing warmth into his joints. "I don't want to return to the smothering solitude."

He didn't want to return to the smothering solitude either but rebellion was contagious. If he allowed Dita to break the rules, others would do the same.

Anarchy would reign. His monstrous humanoid side wouldn't respond well to that. It would feel threatened, would take drastic methods to protect itself.

Beings, many of them, would die. He couldn't risk that, even for her.

Not that she'd asked for leniency. She embraced her fate, his damn fearless female.

Kralj nuzzled against her cheek, her skin smooth, perfect. "Wait until your targets leave the Refuge and then kill them."

"You can read their thoughts." She explored his wrists, was unable to circle them with her fingers. "Do they plan to leave the Refuge soon?"

"No," he admitted. The clones knew she was waiting for them, had decided to stay in the settlement for solar cycles if that was necessary. "It would take something extreme to drive them out."

"Hmmm..." Dita skimmed her fingers along his forearms, pushing the sleeves of his coat higher and higher.

Silence stretched.

"Tell me the story about tonight's prey," his little assassin demanded, the abrupt change of subject challenging Kralj's bemused brain. "Whom did the settler girl remind her of and why did she want to end her lifespan?"

"I don't talk about the residents." He kept their secrets.

"You're an honorable male." The admiration in Dita's voice warmed him. "I'll tell you what I know."

She relayed her theories, based on her skills of observation. There was very little she hadn't uncovered. She had noted the smallest of details, combining them to fill in the being's background.

"Sari is a survivor." Dita concluded. "Her will to live is strong. Her reason for dying would have to be stronger."

For all of his mind-reading abilities, he hadn't considered that angle. Kralj found himself asking for her impressions of Orol, Balvan, other members of his team, and he wondered what she thought about him. What did she see that no one else did?

They talked and touched. Dita's words slowed. The silences between her comments and questions grew longer. Her body became more and more still. Her eyelids lowered. Her breathing leveled.

His little assassin slept, her face soft, her body vulnerable.

She was relying on him to protect her.

He would. Kralj closed his eyes. He continued to monitor his surroundings, the thoughts, the voices, the movements, but all of that activity faded to the back of his mind. Dita was his focus, her scent, her softness, her warmth. There was a bond between them, a trust.

Dita trusted him to tell the truth, to deal with her honestly and he trusted her to do the same. She understood him, his role in the Refuge, his need to kill, his loneliness.

He'd never had that connection with another being.

She was special. She was rare. And in this moment, she was his.

Kralj's lips curled upward as he drifted into the blackness.

Chapter Six

Dita opened her eyes as soon as Kralj fell asleep. She waited until a large ship passed overhead before slipping out of his arms. The vibrations and the noise concealed her movement.

It was one of the most difficult things she'd ever done, her soul screaming to stay, to relish the rare opportunity to be held, to be protected, to be viewed as merely a female and not as a dangerous assassin.

When he touched her, she felt almost normal. That was a secret dream of hers—to lead a normal life, an existence others called boring.

But that was not her reality. She had a vow to keep, a promise given to the shattered survivors to hunt down their attackers, to avenge their loved ones, to remove the threat to them, to allow them to sleep over their rest cycles.

Those survivors deserved peace more than she did. They were good beings, victims of other beings' cruelty, not guilty of anything more than trying to live their lifespans, to raise families, to love.

She, in contrast, was a killer, a fellow monster Kralj had called her. Only her code of honor and her word separated her from the beings she hunted.

She wouldn't become like them, wouldn't break her vow.

Dita crept along the pathways, staying in the shadows. Kralj might not like her stance but he should understand her reasoning. He adhered to his own rules, would kill her for not following them.

He didn't want to take that step, had pleaded with her to change her mind. It would cause him pain to end her lifespan.

Could she hurt him like that?

Dita returned to the clones' domicile, hid in the darkness outside the front doors. Questions swirled in her mind, doubts about her purpose, about the actions she thought she had already decided to take.

_Wait until your targets leave the Refuge and then kill them,_ Kralj had said.

_It would take something extreme to drive them out._ He'd also shared.

The sun rose slowly, fingers of pink and yellow stretching across the sky. The air around her changed, her body humming with awareness. She was no longer alone. Kralj was nearby. He was watching, waiting for her to make a move.

The doors opened. She grasped two of her daggers.

Todt-931, the leader, exited first. "How about we maim a few females this planet rotation?" He hefted the spiked club in his right hand higher.

"What does that freak say?" His clone brothers followed him. "Killing is forbidden. Maiming is acceptable."

They laughed.

Dita's stomach churned with disgust. She lifted her daggers, preparing to throw them, to kill them now, before they hurt another being.

The task should have been easy. They were close, unaware of her presence.

But she couldn't do it, couldn't release her weapons, couldn't end their lives and hers, couldn't force Kralj to kill her. Her heart wouldn't allow her to give him that guilt.

She had to obey his rules. As the males had stated, maiming was acceptable. That would be something extreme. It might drive them out of the settlement.

Dita stepped out of the shadows.

The clones took a hasty step back and raised their weapons. Todt-931 had the club. The other two males drew their guns.

They stared at her.

Then the leader laughed. "Relax, males. She can't do anything." Todt-931 met her gaze. "If she tries to kill us, she's dead. The freak will end her life before she touches us."

"I was told you were tough males." She twirled her daggers. "Yet here you are, hiding within the Refuge's walls, afraid to face one little female."

"We're not afraid." Todt-933, the smallest clone surged forward.

Todt-932, the more rational brother, held him back.

"We're intelligent." Todt-931, their leader, stuck out his purple chin. "And we're not afraid to face you. We're standing here now, aren't we?"

"Ah yes, you're _so_ brave, cowering behind the settlement's rules, knowing I can't kill you," she mocked, intentionally goading them.

Her targets wouldn't leave the Refuge immediately. But she could torture them with her words and with her daggers, prolonging their pain as they had prolonged their victims' suffering.

"Forget the other females." The leader's eyes glimmered with madness. "We're maiming this one, males." His gaze lowered to her breasts and then her groin. "We'll slice you into pieces as we take turns fucking you."

A rumble rolled in the air, so low, so deep, so soft; she might have imagined it.

"You won't fuck me." She hid her distaste at that thought under a layer of disdain. "You can't even get it up in my presence. You're terrified of me, a tiny female." She flexed one of her arms. "You're almost pissing yourself with fear." She looked at Todt-933, the weakest in the group. "Especially that one." She pointed a dagger at him.

He lunged toward her, breaking the second-in-command's grip. Todt-931 flung his spiked club. His throw was too high. He'd underestimated how short she was.

Dita ducked, easily avoiding the club and released both of her daggers. The goal was to maim but solar cycles of training couldn't be undone. They soared straight and true toward Todt-931's and Todt-933's throats.

The blade sank deep into Todt-931's flesh, delivering a death blow to the leader of the gang. He grabbed at the hilt, gurgling, his eyes wide and he fell over, his arms and legs twitching.

The dagger destined for Todt-933's throat swerved abruptly to the right, twanging into the domicile behind him. Both of the surviving clones were tossed backward, slammed against that wall.

Dita stared at the dagger. She never missed.

"You-you killed him." Todt-933, her intended target, was the first to recover.

She withdrew two more daggers.

"No." Kralj grasped her wrists, stopping her. "Your planet rotations as an assassin are done."

"Nothing is done." She struggled, trying to free herself from his grip. "I have two remaining targets. I made a vow to their survivors."

"You'll break that vow." He pulled her tighter to him, the strength in his physique formidable. She'd never sever his hold on her.

But she couldn't accept his judgment. "Without my honor, I'm nothing." That, and her skill at killing, was all she had. "I have to—"

"Silence."

Dita gulped, his dominant tone stealing her words.

The two remaining clones stared at them.

"She-she-she." Todt-932 stammered.

"Go," Kralj roared.

The clones scattered, not sparing their fallen leader a second glance.

Dita was left alone with Kralj. He skimmed his sharp fangs along her neck. She trembled. He would kill her now, as he'd promised. He'd end her life.

"Do it quickly." She lifted her chin, offering him her throat, her body shaking with anticipation.

"I _should_ kill you." The shadow over Kralj spread, engulfing the entire pathway in a grayness resembling twilight. "I should rip your throat out."

He turned her to face him. His countenance was as hard as the stone walls surrounding the settlement. Kralj lowered his head, burrowed his face in her neck, and inhaled deeply. She shivered with delight, her nipples tightening, her form arching toward his.

"You left me, little one." He straightened, meeting her gaze. There was emotion in his eyes, pain in those dark depths. "To do this." He waved at the dead body with his free hand. "To break one of my rules."

She blinked. Was he more upset that she left him than that she killed the clone? "I'm an assassin. Killing is all I know. My word is all I have."

"You're no longer an assassin. You're now my slave." His words shouldn't excite her yet they did. She'd never been anything other than a killing machine. "From this moment on, you'll obey my rules. You'll do what I tell you to do. You'll go where I go." He moved her until she was positioned between his arms. "You, your body, your brain, your soul belongs to me, understand?"

"I understand." That was a lie. She didn't understand. He wasn't killing her. He was taking her as his slave. Why? She had no value other than her ability to end lives.

"I understand, master," he corrected.

"I understand, master." Her pussy grew wet.

He bumped her forward, leaned over her smaller form, grabbed the clone's body and lifted it upward. "Remove your dagger."

"Yes, master." She obeyed him, wiping the blade clean on her body covering, sliding it back into the sheath. Blood splattered her face, neck, chest, as Kralj tore the clone apart.

He feasted, methodically, emotionlessly. Either his hunger had been sated or his heart wasn't in the action.

Trapped between him and the corpse, Dita had no choice but to watch him, wondering what he had planned. Her lifespan belonged to him now. Would it be a long lifespan or a short one? What would he do with her?

Kralj ran his bloody hands over her cheeks, her breasts, her stomach, coating her with crimson. She placed her fingers on his.

"No." He slapped them. Hard. "You haven't earned the right to touch me."

"I understand, master." She was to be his fuck toy.

"This is mine." He cupped her mons and she jerked. "And I want it. Now. Take off your body covering."

They were standing in a public pathway. She looked around them.

"Now," he repeated.

Her spine straightened. Dita stripped, discarding the garment. Kralj chewed on a chunk of the clone's leg and studied her, his dark eyes not missing anything.

"I'm scarred, master." She stood in front of him, naked, exposed, cool air rushing over her skin. Anyone turning into the pathway would see those imperfections, marks she normally kept hidden.

"We all have scars." He recited words she had once told him. "Come here."

She moved toward him. He painted her red, dragging his bloody hands over her small breasts, weighing them in his palms, flicking her nipples with his thumbs. Bliss and acceptance enveloped her.

He hadn't rejected her marred form, hadn't cringed at the pink puckered scar running across her collarbone, left by a blade she couldn't avoid, the round scar on her right shoulder, the projectile from a past hunt, the indent on her stomach, a gruesome reminder that she wasn't a normal female.

He caressed, clutched, claimed until she was covered with blood and then he licked the stickiness off her skin, the rasp of his tongue stimulating her to the edge of madness. Dita wanted to touch him, to relay the pleasure she was feeling, but she couldn't. She hadn't earned that right. Instead, her fingers clenched and released, clenched and released.

"I worked you hard on the wall, when you sucked my cock." He walked her backward. "That is nothing compared to how I'll use you now."

Her ass smacked against the side of a domicile.

He boosted her upward, wrapped her legs around his waist, opening her to him. "You might not survive this."

She would. Dita dared not say that.

"Hold on to me," he commanded. The wind had picked up, a sign his control was compromised.

She grasped the coat-covered breadth of his shoulders, relishing the strength underneath the leather. Kralj sought to scare her with his warning about using her, about working her hard. He had forgotten she was a monster as he was.

She wanted this.

"You're prey." He yanked his ass coverings down to his knees, releasing his thick, long cock. "And my beast is in control."

He lined himself up with her entrance and thrust deep. She screamed, bucking against him, digging her fingernails into his leather-clad shoulders. He pressed forward with his invasion, reshaping her body with his girth, conquering her pussy for his own.

"You're tight." His jaw jutted, the skin stretching tight over his scarred face. "Wet, mine." He sank deeper and deeper into her.

She wiggled, the snugness unbearable.

"Be still." Kralj closed his mouth over her neck, holding her in place, forcing her to take all of him. The sharp tips of his fangs pushed against her, the pressure delightful.

His base flattened against her feminine folds. There was a pop and his fangs broke skin. Pain flowed down her spine. She squeezed his shaft with her inner walls. He groaned, his lips vibrating against her neck.

Nothing in her lifespan rivalled this moment, Kralj's cock in her pussy, his fangs in her flesh. Dita hooked her feet over his clenched ass and clung to him.

That grip was required. He drew his hips back, withdrawing to his tip, and slammed back into her, withdrew and slammed back into her, riding her hard. The side of the domicile spanked her ass, an arousing burn radiating from the point of contact. His chest smacked against her breasts.

She panted, clutching him. His head lifted. Warmth streamed down her neck. They stared at each other for a moment, the depth of his need reflecting in his eyes.

Then he fastened his lips to her skin and sucked, the tug and pull of his mouth in sync with the thrust of his hips.

He fucked her like the beast he was, as only a monster could, driving into her again and again, drinking her blood. Wind pushed at his back, whipped his coat around her. The sun was unable to penetrate his shadow.

The domicile behind her rocked. Dita's brain was fuzzy, the universe spinning around her. The sweat of her body left streaks in the drying blood, on his form and hers.

"Yes, yes, yes." She couldn't remain silent, her need for him too strong. "Harder, handsome. Fuck me harder."

Kralj growled and complied, his eyes flashing, his face contorted with desire. He smelled of heated leather, blood, and her musk, the combination heady.

The porthole in the domicile rattled. The vortex of air swirling around them conveyed larger and larger pieces of debris, his powers impressive, sexy, dangerous.

"Me." She captured his face between her hands. "Look at me. Give it all to me."

His gaze zeroed in on hers, his focus on her, only her, the attention heady. The winds eased but his fucking intensified. He held nothing back, pounding into her.

This rutting was to be a punishment. Dita found only joy in it. Her body constricted around his shaft, the friction driving her yearnings skyward. She needed. She needed.

He sank his fangs into her neck again and she screamed, the pain pushing her into the raging storm. Tossed by desire, she clenched him, holding on to him with everything she had.

He howled, the sound of a beast finding release. The porthole shattered. The side of the domicile cracked. Cum shot from Kralj's tip, splattered against her inner walls, setting off another downpouring of bliss. She screamed until her lungs ached, until she had drained him dry.

Her head tipped back, smacked against the domicile. She winced but didn't move, her form zapped of energy, her arms and legs weak.

He rocked into her once, twice more and became still, his cock buried deep in her pussy, his mouth at her neck.

Moments passed.

His body stiffened against hers. "I didn't pull out." Kralj raised his head and glared at her. "I came inside you." He was angry, very angry.

Because he thought he might have impregnated her.

That wasn't possible. Sadness swept over Dita. She wasn't a normal female. "You can come inside me, handsome. I can't become pregnant."

"I'm a monster." He snarled at her. "Fertility inhibitors might not be effective."

She didn't require fertility inhibitors. "I'm also a monster. I—"

Kralj curved his fingers around her neck and squeezed, cutting off her words and the flow of oxygen to her brain. "I have to kill you now, little one." Dita forced herself to remain still, to not fight this. "I have no choice."

He had given her a surprising stay of execution, deeming her his slave, but had now changed his mind. That was his prerogative as the leader of the Refuge.

Dita had known this would be the price of breaking his rules. She'd accepted it, wouldn't leave him with more guilt.

Blackness framed her vision, closing, closing, closing in.

"I can't do it." Kralj released her, moving his hands to her shoulders.

She sucked in mouthfuls of air, her lungs aching, her vision hazy. The darkness retreated.

"I can't kill you." He said that with a tinge of self-disgust.

Dita blinked at him. Why couldn't he kill her? He had killed others easily. His display of corpses outside the settlement walls was proof of that.

Did he care for her? Hope unfurled inside her.

"I'll monitor the situation." He held her against the side of the domicile. His gaze lowered to her scarred stomach. "I'll sense another monster. We'll deal with it then."

Was he talking about a baby? "Can't," she croaked. Fuck. Her throat hurt.

"Silence." He shook her.

Dita pressed her lips together, complying because she really didn't want to talk about her past, about her inability to have children.

The Guild had ensured she could never conceive life. She could only take it.

"It was a one-time lapse." Kralj licked her throat. His nanohumanics bubbled over her, easing her pain. "I won't lose control again."

She hoped he would lose control again. She liked it when he let go.

"But I _will_ fuck you." He said that as though it were a threat. She viewed it as a promise. "You're mine. I own you."

Dita didn't say anything because, at the moment, she _was_ his.

Her two remaining targets would have to be killed. She wouldn't break her vow to the survivors. But the males would be spooked right now. She'd wait until they'd forgotten about her failed attempt.

During that delay, she'd spend more time with Kralj, be his slave for a few planet rotations, feel his rough hands on her skin. She trembled with happiness.

"I smell your arousal." Kralj's eyes narrowed. "You won't like being owned."

His threats didn't scare her. Nothing was harsher than the Guild's training program and she'd survived that.

"I'll leave the body parts here for a shift as a warning to others." He hauled her over his right shoulder, balanced her there as he fastened his ass covering. "Then I'll clean up your mess."

Kralj walked with her along the pathway.

"We forgot my body covering." Dita waved at the garment. The weapons were rare and she was almost nude, wearing only the blood of her target.

"We forgot my body covering, master," he corrected.

"We forgot my body covering, master." If following his rules made him happy, as happy as her grim male could be, she'd comply with each and every one.

"No one would dare to touch it." He smacked her bare ass, the burn temporarily distracting her from her state of undress. "You'll remain naked until you can be trusted with garments."

She frowned. Was he questioning her honor? "I never lied to you."

"You never spoke the truth either."

"I'm an assassin." Her tone was dry. "If I had the habit of sharing my plans with others, I would have been dead solar cycles ago."

"You're a slave now." Kralj cuffed her on the backside again, the reprimand more arousing than hurtful. "Slaves share all of their plans with their masters."

Shit. Being a slave might be tougher than she thought.

He paraded her through the settlement, his grip on her legs secure. Residents scurried out of their way, fearing the male carrying her. They were more concerned about their own safety than her nudity.

Every so often, Kralj would smack her ass. Sometimes his hand would linger.

The message was thrillingly clear—she was his.

Chapter Seven

Kralj stomped along pathways, his female slung over his right shoulder. He was angry with himself, with his beast, and with her.

Not because she'd killed one of his targets. That had been his decision. He could have prevented the clone's death, deflecting both of the daggers but he didn't. The male had dared to threaten his female. He had to die.

Kralj took full responsibility for that death, which was why, he rationalized, she remained alive. Her survival had nothing to do with his beast insisting she was his mate or how she touched him or her ability to absorb his powers.

His anger stemmed from his loss of control over his beast. It had refused to punish her and, even more alarmingly, it had refused to pull out while they were breeding.

Coming inside a female was too risky. They could have made a new little monster, something he'd vowed never to do.

One of his kind in the universe was too much.

It wouldn't happen again. He'd made her his slave, would ensure she behaved. She wouldn't entice his monster into madness a second time. He'd restrain her, restrain the creature inside him, restrain himself.

Kralj marched through the settlement, ensuring residents saw them. They'd know whom she belonged to and wouldn't threaten her again.

It should stem rebellion. The word of the clone's death had already started to spread, the surviving males voicing their outrage. Residents would realize she was acting with his approval. She was a part of him. They should fear her as they feared him.

He carried her into the beverage outlet. Although the sun had recently risen, the gaming and beverage chamber was crowded, every chair occupied. Bleary-eyed patrons rolled numbered stones and groped laughing breeding females. Workers poured fermented beverages into containers, serving them.

Beings stopped and stared at him as he stood on the threshold, their eyes wide with curiosity. He never brought females back to the structure he considered his domicile.

_Her name is Dita._ He broadcast telepathically to every being in the structure. _And she's mine._ He slapped her bare ass and she jerked, the scent of her arousal strengthening. _No one touches her._

He has a female?

If the freak can get a female, there's hope for me.

Who is she?

Nice ass.

Where did she come from?

Why is she covered in blood?

Did he eat her too?

How can she tolerate looking at him?

_How much is he paying her?_ The comments and questions were thought but not spoken.

Kralj ignored them all and strode through the space to his private chambers. Beings stepped to the side, not meeting his gaze, allowing him to pass.

He pushed through the doors to his chambers and continued walking. The first chamber was utilized for business. It was often frequented by guests.

"Wow." Dita pushed herself upward, her body quivering with excitement. "You have some nice toys."

Ancient weapons decorated the walls. He thought his unnatural female would like that.

"Can I—"

"No." He denied her request before she voiced it. "You'll have to earn that right."

Once she learned to follow his rules and the furor over the killing had dissipated, they would hunt with those weapons.

At the moment, it was too dangerous. If they hunted now, too many eyes would watch them. His beast had also not yet learned control.

Kralj walked with her through his sleeping chamber to the cleansing space and lowered her until her bare feet touched the tiled floor. He placed his body between her and the door. "Relieve yourself."

Her face turned red under the layer of dried blood. "That's not necessary."

Was his little assassin embarrassed?

"You will be bound to the sleeping support for an entire shift." He crossed his arms before him. "It's necessary."

Dita mimicked his pose, folding her arms under her pert breasts. Her nipples were taut, begging to be covered by his hands. "Turn around."

"Impertinent slaves get their asses reddened." If he turned around, she'd attempt to escape.

Her eyes glowed with excitement. His female liked being spanked.

And he liked spanking her. Too much.

"Please turn around, master." She tried again.

"No." He wasn't relenting.

"I didn't intend to kill him." Dita scowled at him, looking more adorable than fierce. "My goal was to maim, which _is_ allowable." She held up one finger. "But I can't not kill." She muttered. "I'm too damn good."

She had planned to obey him. That eroded more of his anger. "Nothing you say will change your fate, little one."

He was keeping her in his chambers, where he could watch over her, protect her.

"This is humiliating." She looked away from him as she tended to her needs.

"You've endured worse."

"I have." Her slender shoulders straightened. They were scarred, as was much of the rest of her body, but her marks were dainty and pink, not ghastly and grotesque like his were. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"Why did you plan to maim, not kill your targets?" he countered, unwilling to share his reasons for sparing her. "Your vow was to end their lives."

"I haven't upheld that vow." Dita's eyes sparked with fire.

"You killed one of them, the leader. You'll have to console yourself with that."

"You know I can't."

He _did_ know that, which was why he had to restrain her. She would throw the entire settlement into chaos with her determination to keep her vows.

He admired that. If it were his vow, he would do the same.

Kralj waited.

Dita completed what she had to do and stood defiantly in front of him. "What humiliation is next, master?" Her sarcastic tone was accompanied with an eye roll.

She would show him respect soon. He would make that his personal mission.

"I'm restraining you." He hefted her over his shoulder. She could walk. She wasn't fast enough to evade him. But he liked carrying her.

He transferred her to his sleeping chamber.

"There's no need to restrain me." Her chest heaved against him. "I won't leave these chambers. I give you my word."

"Hmmm..." He set her on the sleeping support, searched through the compartments hidden in the walls, found four restraints.

"I keep my word." His little assassin grew more agitated. "I didn't promise to stay with you while you slept."

That had bothered him—waking up alone. Kralj extended one of her arms.

"Kralj—"

"This is happening." He was blunt with her. "Accept it."

Dita met his gaze. Whatever she saw there must have convinced her. She became deathly still, her body stiff.

"Relax." She inhaled deeply, held her breath for three of his heartbeats, exhaled. "You can do this." He tied her wrist to the sleeping support. "You're strong."

Her words were for herself. She was trying to convince herself she could endure the restraints. That was how much having her movements restricted bothered his tough tiny female.

He pushed back his guilt and grasped her other wrist.

"I was wrong. I can't do this." Dita tugged, pulled as he restrained that arm too. "Let me go." She fought him, unable to match his strength. "I have to be free."

"Be still." He cautioned. She would hurt herself.

"Can't." She twisted. "Don't do this to me, master. Please. I beg you."

Kralj's misgivings increased. Her panic was genuine.

"Calm yourself, little one." He caught her flailing ankles and held them still. "This is for your protection."

"For my protection?" Dita panted. "The males will seek revenge and I'll be restrained, unable to defend myself."

They _would_ seek revenge. They planned it as she spoke. Kralj heard their thoughts. "You're mine to defend." He bound her legs, spreading them wide. "I won't allow them to hurt you." Her fear was in her mind only, he told his conscience. There was no real threat.

"You won't be here. That's why you're restraining me."

"I hear everything, know everything within the settlement." He loomed over her. "If they take one step toward this structure, I'll be aware of it."

"But—"

"Do you doubt your master, slave?" He boomed.

She froze, her eyes widening, but she didn't say anything.

Because she didn't lie and she _did_ doubt him, he realized. As he doubted her. Kralj sighed and sat on the sleeping support beside her. "If I release you, how do I know you'll be here when I return?"

"I gave you my word." She looked hurt.

"You gave the survivors your word that you'd kill their tormentors." He pointed out. "Those two vows conflict."

"Killing them can wait." She glanced to the right, away from him.

She was hiding something. He yearned to be able to read her mind. "Killing them can wait until when?"

"Until they leave the settlement." Her gaze returned to his. "They'll leave. They'll no longer feel protected here."

The damn female was right. He had allowed one of their brothers to be killed. The clones wouldn't feel protected in the settlement. "Was that your plan?" Had she played him?

"My revised plan was to torture them until they couldn't tolerate the pain and left." Dita admitted, a tinge of shame clinging to her words.

She must have known he wouldn't approve of her revised plan either. Dita was cunning and ruthless and she was now restricted to his sleeping chambers.

Both his monstrous humanoid side and his beast reveled in that last fact.

Kralj retrieved a cleaning cloth, ran it over her arms, her chest, her hips, removing the blood of their prey, caring for the female with whom he'd aligned, considering his next move. He wouldn't sway her with restraints and threats.

"I'll inform you when your prey leaves the settlement." He didn't say he'd set her free because he might have to kill her. Kralj skimmed the cloth over her scarred stomach. She could be carrying a monster. "Until then, you'll obey me. You'll give your vows to me precedence over any others."

Dita gazed at him, her forehead furrowed with thought lines. "What are my targets thinking right now?"

She still didn't trust him. Kralj gritted his teeth, unaccustomed to any being doubting his word. "Todt-932, the clone now in charge, is thinking his time has come. He'll be a more powerful leader than his brother ever was. Todt-933, the weakest one, is telling three of his cronies how he'll make you beg for mercy. You'll plead to take his cock up your ass."

She winced.

"They're both positioned at the walls, near the gate." They wouldn't touch her. He'd keep her safe. "They fear me."

But they grew bolder and more vocal with every passing moment. If they didn't relent soon, Kralj would have to deal with them.

"Agree to obey me until they leave the settlement and I'll free you." That was his compromise.

"Hmmm..." She tilted her head, gazing at him.

Kralj cleaned her restrained form as she pondered his offer. Dita was lean muscle and slender curves, pale skin and pink scars. He snapped the cleaning cloth, refreshing it, and slid the soft fabric between her thighs.

She quivered, bowing her slender form toward him. He glided the cleaning cloth over her feminine folds, circled her clit, polishing the tiny button, and she moaned, her lips parted enticingly.

His little assassin wasn't thinking of threats now. She was placing her pleasure in his hands, trusting him with her release.

His beast prowled inside him, growling, wanting to mount her. Kralj ignored it. That part of him had to learn control.

This encounter was for his mate alone. It was a reward for enduring the restraints, a thank you for the pleasure she'd given him, the sexual release, the companionship, the understanding.

Kralj discarded the cleaning cloth, stroked and teased her with his fingers, escalating her passions. Her scent flavored the air. Her wetness coated his skin. He feathered her folds, tapped her clit, pushed into her entrance with two of his fingers.

His nanohumanics bubbled inside her, telling any being with enhanced senses who owned her. The mark on her neck had healed but he knew it had been there, could still taste her blood on his tongue.

She was his. He strummed her pussy, wielding her body like a weapon against her, stripping her control strand by strand. All the time, he gazed into her eyes, reading what she liked, didn't like, learning her form.

Kralj added a finger, stretching her tight. Dita panted, rocking her hips. He pumped harder, faster, pushing her toward fulfillment.

"Kralj." There was nothing more erotic than his name on her lush lips.

She called for him again and again. The muscles in her legs flexed. Tremors rolled over her, building, building.

He smacked the heel of his hand against her clit and she broke, thrusting upward, screaming her satisfaction, her mouth open, her eyes dazed.

She was glorious, splendid in her bliss. Kralj brushed his fingertips over the long thick scar on her stomach. She trembled under his hands, murmuring his name.

He'd done that, given her that joy, made her delirious with bliss. After a lifespan of being a weapon, of bringing death and destruction to beings, he found the power he had over her wondrous, a gift from the often cruel universe.

"You're more than an assassin, little one." He told her softly.

"I'm a monster." Dita smiled at him.

She was a miracle, her soul serene, her thoughts unreadable, her acceptance of the bloodier side of his personality just as much of an anomaly.

"You're my slave." Kralj cupped her breasts. They were firm yet soft, like the female they belonged to. "I will use you well, all of you, your brain and your body."

Once she learned to follow his rules, she would help him rule the Refuge. They'd make decisions together, deal with the administration while the sun was high in the sky, hunt after dark, doling justice to the deviant.

They'd return here, to his sleeping chambers and she'd feed his sexual hungers. They'd fuck until he was sated, until he no longer felt out of control around her.

He could then do what he had to do—either kill her if she carried his monster or let her go, allowing her to hunt the clones, to keep her vow to the survivors.

_Mate,_ his beast grumbled, unhappy with his plan.

"You'll tell me when my targets leave the settlement?" Dita wiggled, pulling on her restraints.

"I said I would." He frowned, displeased that she continued to focus on that task.

"Then I promise to obey you." Dita dipped her head as though _she_ was deeding _him_ a favor, not the other way around. "I won't leave our chambers without your permission. I won't hunt unless you've authorized it." She paused. "Master."

The subservience was an afterthought but she was trying.

Kralj focused on that small win. "You learned how to be a great assassin." That reminder was for both of them. "You'll soon earn the right to hunt."

He released her restraints.

They had left red strips on her wrists and ankles. He bent his head and gently licked each section of abused skin, one by one, healing Dita with his nanohumanics, easing the pain he'd inadvertently caused her. She tasted like salt and desire.

Her fingers and toes curled. "And how do I earn the right to hunt?"

"You earn that through obedience." Kralj drew her closer to him, savoring the feel of her, the way her slight curves folded into his muscle, her scent. "Control. Submission." He brushed the curls away from her beautiful face. "Learning to maim, not always kill."

Dita smiled at his weak attempt at a joke. "I _do_ need to learn that. The other things, not so much." She shrugged, the movement brushing her breasts against his chest. "But I'll play along, master." Her eyes danced with humor. "It'll be fun."

It wasn't a game, not for him, not for his monster. Kralj required the framework of control, the restraint of his rules.

Even now, the need to take her, to possess her, to fill her with his essence drummed at him. The beast inside him swatted at its confines.

He had to put distance between them.

Kralj reluctantly released Dita and stood. "I'll return to you at the end of this shift." When his beast was properly subdued.

"I'll stay in this chamber." She said that as though there was a possibility she wouldn't be here when he returned. "Master." She followed him to the threshold.

"You won't make this easy for me, will you?" He cupped her chin.

"Easy is for weak warriors." Her lips curled upward. "Not for monsters like us."

"You should respect me." Kralj skimmed his lips over hers, tasting her smile.

"I always respect you," she whispered, opening to him. His beast howled, wanting more, more, more.

He couldn't indulge it, couldn't lose himself in her again. Kralj pulled away from her, from that temptation, turned, and departed. Although he didn't look back, he felt her presence behind him.

He couldn't read her mind but they were connected.

That link would eventually be severed – either with her leaving or with her death. Fuck. He hoped she wasn't pregnant. He didn't know if he had the strength to kill her.

Orol waited for him outside his private chambers, the winged male leaning against the wall, one booted foot crossed in front of the other. His thoughts told Kralj he wanted to ask about Dita, about the corpse on the pathway, about the unrest rippling through the settlement.

He said nothing, which was wise. Kralj didn't plan to talk about any of that. His second-in-command followed him as he walked through the beverage outlet, pausing as he dealt with more minor issues.

They exited the structure, strolled aimlessly around the Refuge.

Zeb, the leader of the settlers, preached in front of the market. He told residents they were doomed to an afterlife of nothingness, his tirades on violence and the carrying of weapons annoying all but two of the passersby.

Azalea, the young settler female, was more confused than irritated. She had been taught to abhor violence yet lusted after Hulagu, Kralj's unwanted protégé.

Sari, the breeding female, was too focused on Azalea to be annoyed by the settler leader's speeches. She was certain her destiny was to protect the girl, to make amends for the death she'd caused, but she didn't know how to do that.

Kralj sympathized with her situation. He wanted his world to go back to normal and didn't know how to accomplish that either.

"Dita changes nothing." He addressed one of Orol's unspoken concerns. "You remain my second-in-command."

"She's a female." Orol raised his eyebrows. "Females tend to change everything."

"She won't." His relationship with Dita wouldn't affect his routine within the settlement. "She'll obey me."

"I hope, for your sake, she doesn't," the winged male muttered. "You need some disruption in your lifespan."

No, he didn't need that. Disruption resulted in death.

Orol didn't understand that because he didn't know the full extent of Kralj's powers. The male hadn't seen the carnage he could cause with one lapse of control.

If Kralj had his way, he never would.

He walked away, not addressing Orol's comments.

Chapter Eight

Dita had spent her lifespan training, hunting, killing, always being active. She paced around the chamber, surveying her surroundings, looking for something to do.

Other than the thresholds to the first chamber and to the cleansing chamber, there were no other points of entry, no doors to the exterior of the structure. The ceilings were high and open with no crawl space, the beams exposed. The walls were solid, designed to withstand a massive earthquake.

Or contain her master's considerable power.

She opened one of the compartments hidden within the walls and her eyes widened with delight. Kralj had a wonderful collection of primitive weapons, the various killing, torturing and restraining devices originating from all over the universe, from multiple time periods.

They were beautiful, unique, and practical. She spun blades in her hands. The daggers were perfectly balanced.

Liking what Kralj had done in the first chamber, she arranged some of the weapons on the walls. The selection and arrangement took time. She wanted the battle gear to be decorative yet easy to reach, concentrating first on the wall behind the sleeping support.

Assuming they'd be sharing that sleeping support, she allocated the portion closest to the exit to him. He hadn't ended her lifespan. That deserved a reward. Dita would give her new master the first opportunity to kill invaders.

She decorated that section of the wall with the larger, heavier weapons. Kralj was stronger than she was and could wield them.

She modified the weapons she chose for herself, blackening the blades and hilts, adjusting them to better fit her hands. They were tested, a large shield positioned on the far wall as a target. Dita rolled and threw daggers, swung from the overhead beams and shot projectiles at the circle of metal, aiming for the center.

Sweat dripped down her spine. A grin spread across her face. She ran and jumped and practiced removing the weapons from the wall, killing imaginary targets as she moved.

Dita was hanging naked from a ceiling beam when Kralj returned. She punched holes in the embarrassingly inadequate shield with projectiles from the gun she'd found hidden under an ancient Earth helmet.

Kralj stood on the threshold to the sleeping chamber, her body covering and weapons in his hands. He gazed at her and then at the shield. "I was told that was valuable."

"Valuable?" Dita snorted. "It doesn't stop shit."

He shrugged, didn't otherwise move, didn't speak.

"I survived my first planet rotation of incarceration." She grinned at him.

"It's where you belong, where monsters like us should be." His mouth was grimly set, his eyes bleak. "Locked up, unable to harm others."

He was in a pissy mood. "If you feel that way, handsome, I'm surprised you escaped from the Humanoid Alliance." She couldn't resist goading him. "They must have locked you up tight when you weren't working for them."

"They didn't have the ability to lock me up." His tone was arrogant. "And I escaped because they pushed me too far." Kralj touched the scars on his face. "I don't respond well to that."

He was threatening her, hinting that she was pushing him too far.

Dita studied him. He needed to feed or fuck.

She was willing to give him one or the other or both. "I like pushing you."

She somersaulted through the air and landed on his shoulders, her legs straddling his neck, her pussy pressing against his nape.

"No." He reached behind him, grabbed her by the right arm and flung her onto the sleeping support.

She shrieked and bounced, more surprised that afraid. Kralj wouldn't hurt her. Much.

"Don't touch me. My restraint is...frayed." He set her body covering and weapons on the horizontal support closest to the wall.

"That's for your things, not mine." She pointed out.

He glared at her.

"Master," she added, trying to appease him.

Kralj moved her things to the horizontal support she'd claimed. The body covering had been cleaned. The weapons had been polished. She suspected he was responsible for that.

Dita set her gun aside. "If your restraint is frayed, then I really should touch you." She reached out with her right foot, placing it on his leather-clad thigh.

He shuddered and his eyes blazed. Her male was in a bad way.

"I need your help with this, little one." He turned away from her, facing the wall. "I lose control when you touch me."

"And that's bad?"

"That's very bad." He clenched his hands behind his back. "Beings die."

"But—"

" _Everyone_ dies." Kralj turned toward her. "Good, bad, innocent, guilty, young, old. It doesn't matter who they are and you want to know how they die?"

"You rip out their throats." She'd seen him kill.

"I rip out their throats when I'm in control, when I allow my beast to feed. It can be sated. This cannot." He tapped his scarred forehead. "This kills everyone. One uncontrolled thought and all structures are flattened, every being in this settlement, friend or foe, explodes."

Stars. She stared at him, impressed. He knew he had this ability because he'd done it. He'd killed entire settlements with one errant thought.

"You don't want to see that part of me."

_He_ didn't want that. She read that truth in his eyes. "You can't hurt me."

"I can't hurt you." The severe set of his jaw eased. "But you and I would be the only survivors."

That was why the Refuge embraced the most violent beings on the planet, she realized. If he lost control, other beings, outsiders, would view that as a service. It would be a purge of the killers, the corrupt, the evil.

"Focus on me as you did on the wall and in the alleyway." She laid back on the sleeping support and spread her thighs, determined to help him. "No one died then."

Stone had rocked and the wind had howled but no lifespans had ended.

"This isn't a game." Kralj showed his fangs, the hurt in his voice genuine.

Her smile faded. She hadn't meant to trivialize his pain. "Your monster has needs—it needs to eat and it needs to breed. Denying those needs will only make them stronger."

"My beast has those needs, not my monster." He looked at her, his eyes dark and hungry.

"Your beast has those needs," Dita amended. "Tell me your rules." She would try to adhere to them. "When you were with other females, how did you control yourself?"

"My beast has never wanted another female."

He only lost control with her. Dita blinked, trying to wrap her mind around that concept. For much of her lifespan, she'd thought of herself as less feminine. He viewed her as more.

That was because he didn't know the truth. She skimmed her palm over the scar ranging from above her navel to her mons.

"You can restrain me." Being restrained scared her. Before she met Kralj, her last memory of being strapped down, unable to move was when the Assassin's Guild had operated on her. But she'd submit to being restrained if it helped him. "That way, I won't touch you."

"The restraints hurt you." He retrieved them from one of the wall compartments.

"You eased that pain." His nanohumanics bubbled inside her. "Can I talk to you? Is that acceptable? Can I tell you how wet my pussy is, how ready I am to take your big cock?"

"Don't play with me, Dita." He hastily bound her wrists, tying her to the sleeping support. "I won't be gentle with you."

"That's what you said on the wall." She spread her legs, allowing him to tie them in place. "You didn't scare me then and you don't scare me now." She tested her restraints. They held. "Remove your garments for this fuck. I want to see all of you."

"I have more scars." He kicked off his boots.

"Your scars make me hot." She gave him her most seductive smile. "Show them to me."

His rumble shook the walls.

He was losing control.

"Don't send that sexy energy elsewhere, master." She met his gaze. His beast gleamed in the depths of his eyes, arousingly savage. "Focus it all on me."

He shrugged out of his long coat. "I'll give you all of me, whether you want it or not."

The leather fell to the floor. Angry red scars ran over one of his shoulders, down that arm. The rest of his body was tanned, muscular, lean, lickable.

"I can take all of you." She lifted her hips. "Don't hold back."

"I won't." He stripped off his ass coverings. "I can't, not with you."

His cock was hard. A bead of pre-cum glistened on his tip. He was as ready as she was.

Kralj might be part humanoid, part beast, but he was all male, and in this moment, all hers. Her pussy dripped, her yearning for him increasing exponentially. She allowed her lust to show, openly admiring him, the breadth of his shoulders, the trimness of his hips, his warrior stance.

"Only you would find this appealing." He swept one of his hands over his marred face, shoulder, arm.

"I don't find you appealing."

His body stiffened.

"That's too weak a word for how I feel." She looked him over, relishing his fit form. "You devastate my senses, make me forget who I am, what my purpose in this universe is. I want you on top of me, inside me, your cock in my pussy, your fangs in my neck."

His growl started soft, grew louder and louder and louder, until he sprang on her. Skin slapped against skin. Fangs dragged over her neck. Rigid shaft pressed against her bare mons.

He clutched her shoulders and moved over her, nuzzling, rubbing, covering her with his muscle, his warmth, his scent.

"Yes. Take me. Master me." She moaned, undulating under him, pulling on her bindings. Her nipples brushed along his chest, the contact stimulating them.

His cockhead bumped against her pussy lips, teasing her. He found her entrance and pushed deep, stretching her open, the fullness divine.

As Kralj invaded her pussy, he claimed her neck. His fangs broke skin, sending pain shooting along her form. He sank into her flesh.

She wiggled, struggling to be free, but not truly wanting that. Another rumble rolled up his chest. He sucked on her neck while he pounded into her pussy with his cock, his enthusiasm, strength, hardness exciting.

Dita heated all over, her neck, breasts, hips, thighs. Her wrists and ankles burned. That pain accentuated her pleasure. For her, an assassin, a being who associated accomplishment with killing, worthiness with self-sacrifice, the hurt felt right. The bliss would be hard fought for, earned.

Kralj took her again and again, plunging into her up to his base and retreating. The sleeping support rocked. The weapons on the walls rattled.

He was still holding back.

Dita licked the scars on his face and his head lifted, his gaze meeting hers. Blood dripped down his chin, his expression feral.

"I want it all, Kralj." She told him. "Give it to me."

"It's yours." He claimed her neck again, rutting into her, appeasing his inhuman appetites with her body, utilizing her unique gift, her untouchable mind to contain his great power.

The wind in the chamber eased while the humming in her pussy escalated. Never had she been used like this, thoroughly, completely, his passion unrivalled.

Kralj ravished her relentlessly, advancing, retreating, advancing, retreating. His muscles rippled. His chest heaved. Every third thrust, he swiveled his hips, grinding against her clit.

Dita whimpered, dangerously close to fulfillment. Moisture streamed between her breasts. She didn't know if it was sweat or blood. She didn't care. It felt so good. She didn't want him to ever stop.

Then he did. Abruptly.

As she teetered on the edge of orgasm, Kralj pulled out, roaring his release. The shield above the sleeping support dented, the clang of metal bending echoing in the chamber. He bathed her stomach with his cum, his face contorted with an ecstasy only he felt.

"You-you monster." She glared at him, furious, her body, mind, heart aching with his betrayal. "I was close to coming."

"That was why I withdrew." He collapsed next to her. Sexual satisfaction, something she certainly wasn't feeling, softened his normally stark features. "If you had come, I would have also." He cupped her mons, the action half-hearted. "I'll finish you off."

"Don't you dare finish me off." She squirmed, unable to escape him. Because he'd fuckin' restrained her. The bastard. "Did you know you were going to pull that stunt? Was that why you tied me up?"

"You volunteered to be tied up." His tone was dry.

He was right. She _had_ volunteered.

Because she had been thinking of him, of his control issues.

He clearly hadn't been thinking of her. Dita glowered at him

"Don't look at me that way, little one." Kralj stroked her, giving her his fingers when she wanted his cock. Her arousal returned but her irritation didn't go away.

"You can't get me pregnant." She suspected that was his reason for stopping.

He pushed two of his fingers inside her and she inhaled sharply. "I might have already done that but I won't take any additional chances." He pumped her slowly.

She struggled to focus on their conversation. "You haven't already done that because—"

"You don't know I haven't done that." He rolled off the sleeping support and stood, taking his fingers away from her also, denying her satisfaction yet again. "I won't bring another monster like me into this universe. If I had the strength I would rid it of me."

"Then I'm glad you don't have that strength." She'd known him for mere planet rotations and couldn't contemplate a universe without him in it. "I can't get pregnant, Kralj."

If she wanted an orgasm, she had to share that secret.

"I was designed to be super potent." He paced back and forth. The air swirled around him. "Even if that part of you is damaged in some way, my nanohumanics could heal you."

"They can't heal what isn't there."

He stopped, turned, looked at her. "What are you saying?"

"First, release me." She wouldn't have the most brutal conversation of her lifespan while she was tied up, unable to escape his judgment.

Kralj hesitated for a moment. She felt his gaze on her downturned face but she refused to look upward, to meet it.

He complied, freeing her from the bindings.

Dita moved away from him, not allowing him to ease the redness around her wrists and ankles. She needed to put distance between them, to safeguard a portion of herself.

"You say your beast wants me." She touched the long scar on her stomach. "I doubt that's true because animals can tell when a female is fertile and I'm not."

"You don't know—"

"I do know that." She snapped, tired of his pushback, of his arrogant belief that he could fix everything. He couldn't fix her. She was too badly broken. "I won't be fertile. Ever. I'm not normal." That dream of hers would never become a reality. "I'm not even a true female. There's nothing for your nanohumanics to mend. The Assassin's Guild removed that part of me."

He didn't say anything.

What was there to say? Dita hugged herself. She was a freak.

"They did that to ensure I remained focused, dedicated to the craft." They hadn't given her a choice. The planet rotation she celebrated twelve solar cycles, they'd operated on her.

Once she'd realized what was happening, she'd fought her fellow Guild members. She was unsuccessful. There were too many of them. She hadn't been the skilled assassin she was now.

They'd quashed her efforts easily, strapped her to a horizontal support, gave her prolongers so she would be conscious the entire time they took her apart.

That experience left a scar on her stomach and an even deeper one on her mind. The Guild removed not only the part of her that had made her female but the part of her that had made her human. On that planet rotation, she became a monster, destined to be alone.

"I'm not your female or anyone else's." That sense of belonging was a fantasy also, unobtainable for a female like her. "The Assassin's Guild made me what I am, the only thing I will ever be—a killer, an assassin."

Tears trickled down her cheeks.

She brushed them away. "While I wait for my targets to leave the Refuge, I'll be your slave." Dita didn't want to be alone, not yet. She would tolerate his judgment to prevent that. "You can use me to satisfy your hungers. I will use you to satisfy mine. Our relationship will be passionate but it will end. It has to end." She stood, grasping her body covering, using it as a shield, as a barrier between him and her. "I have nothing to offer you, to offer any male."

"Dita." Kralj's voice was harsh with emotion. "You offer—"

"Nothing. I can give you nothing." All she could offer any being was her skills at killing. He was the ideal weapon and didn't require any assistance with that task. "Once the males leave the settlement, we'll part ways. You'll rule your Refuge." She couldn't look at him, couldn't see his reaction to her revelations. "I'll hunt down the clones and keep my vow to the survivors."

Her word was the only thing she had left. No one would take that from her.

Dita had to get away from him, regroup, recover. She walked toward the cleansing chamber, stopped on the threshold. "Do I have your permission to leave the chamber, master?"

Kralj followed her, pressed his chest against her back, rubbed her arms, giving her comfort she couldn't accept. "Little one, I—"

"Do I have your permission?" she repeated, her heart aching.

He sighed. His breath blew hot against her neck. "You have my permission."

Chapter Nine

He _was_ a monster.

Kralj lurked outside the cleansing chamber, waiting for Dita to emerge.

She'd told him she couldn't become pregnant. Multiple times. He hadn't heard her. Accustomed to intercepting every being's private thoughts, he'd forgotten how to listen.

His little assassin had been forced to share her horrific past. He had pushed her too far.

Moments passed. She didn't exit from the cleansing chamber.

Because he'd hurt her, not physically but emotionally. His fearless little assassin had cried during the sharing, every teardrop puncturing a hole in his heart.

He also hadn't sexually satisfied her.

Fuck. He hadn't even fed her.

Kralj scowled, his self-directed anger escalating with each passing moment. She'd allowed him to feed from her multiple times, offering him her pale neck, her mouth-watering blood.

He hadn't appeased her hunger once.

He looked at the entrance to the cleansing chamber. She gave no indication she was emerging from the space soon.

He had time to rectify one of his errors. Kralj quickly dressed and stalked out of his private chambers.

The chatter stopped as soon as he entered the main public chamber. Gazes fixed on him. He heard everything, could read their thoughts, knew he was the focus of the chatter. The beings, both guests and workers, speculated on his relationship with Dita.

They didn't know he'd fucked it up.

Kralj approached the long horizontal support in the center of the chamber. Radnik, a newer member of his team, tended the area, serving the patrons seated along it.

_One beverage, three nourishment bars._ He pushed that thought into the male's mind.

_Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. He's talking to me._ Beads of sweat formed on Radnik's forehead. "W-w-what type of beverage would you like, sir?"

Beverages came in varieties. Kralj studied the display of beverage containers behind the horizontal support. Not needing to drink anything other than blood, he had forgotten that. "Palavian Ale." That was the outlet's bestselling beverage.

_I thought he was ordering for his female but he can't be._ Radnik hustled to fill a container with the liquid. _That's a beverage males drink to impress other males. It's harsh and bitter. I'd rather drink my own piss than Palavian Ale._ He set the container in front of Kralj.

Kralj passed it to the male on his right. "Drink this."

The male gulped the beverage, his hands shaking.

Dita deserved the best. "I want a container of Dracheon Mist." That was the most expensive beverage.

_Must be nice to be the Ruler._ Radnik filled another container. _I'd have to work for a solar cycle to afford this._ "Is there a specific flavor of nourishment bars you'd prefer, sir?"

Fuck. Those came in different varieties also. Kralj frowned. "Give me an assortment that complements the Dracheon Mist."

_He looks angry. I'm taking too long._ Radnik selected three bars. _He's going to terminate my role or worse._ He swallowed hard, placing the bars carefully in front of Kralj. _Much worse._

Kralj's lips flattened. Everyone feared him, everyone except Dita. "Thank you."

He grasped the beverage container and the nourishment bars and headed back to the privacy of his own chambers. Beings whispered, guessing correctly that he was feeding his female. They feared her also, feared the changes they were certain she'd bring. Females didn't like violence, didn't like rough warriors, they chattered.

They didn't know Dita. Kralj pushed through the doors. Her scent washed over him. It felt like...acceptance. He breathed deeply, walked into the sleeping chamber.

She wasn't there.

She must still be in the cleansing chamber. Relieved, Kralj set the beverage on a horizontal support, the one she had claimed. "Are you hungry, little one?"

She didn't answer.

Which wasn't like his tiny assassin. She didn't hesitate to talk back. He palmed a nourishment bar, entered the cleansing chamber.

It was empty. She was gone.

His beast roared, anger sweeping over him, fury at her for leaving him and at him for giving her permission. She had asked if she could leave the chamber. She hadn't specified which chamber.

He would lock her inside his private chambers permanently. But first, he'd hunt his damn female down and redden her ass until she couldn't sit.

Kralj scanned the thoughts of every being in the settlement. No one had seen her.

His little assassin was good, too good for his comfort.

He rushed through the structure he considered his domicile, following her scent, his beast excited by the chase. Some of his panic subsided. Tracking her wasn't a challenge. She hadn't much of a head start on him.

Kralj sped along pathways. Despite her single-minded focus on killing her targets, she hadn't returned to the clones' domicile. That surprised him. He had thought that would have been the first place she'd visit.

His height-loving female had also restricted herself to the ground level, keeping her booted feet planted on the pathways. She hadn't climbed any walls, hadn't jumped from rooftop to rooftop, recklessly risking her lifespan as she was prone to do.

Dita must have known he'd hunt her down yet she made no attempt to cover her tracks, to evade him. And she wasn't trying to leave the Refuge. Her meandering path circled the center of the settlement, far from the walls.

She must be taking a walk, clearing her head. The knot in the pit of Kralj's stomach unraveled.

As the gap between them narrowed, he calmed more and more. When he spotted Dita, his little assassin crouching in a dark alleyway, he didn't pounce on her as his beast yearned to do. He didn't pull her to him and kiss her pain away, assuring her she was everything any male could ever want in a female. He didn't fuck her against the wall until she came three times, making up for his previous neglect.

Instead, Kralj slipped into the shadows behind her and waited, acutely aware of his little assassin. Her black body covering stretched over her shapely ass. The brown curls at her nape made his fingers twitch.

He wanted to touch her. Badly.

"You gave me permission to leave the chamber." She lowered her voice so only he could hear her.

"I did give you permission." He unwrapped a nourishment bar and handed it to her.

"Thank you." She bit into it and chewed, watching the action in the alleyway.

He followed her gaze.

Sari, the breeding female, was warning Azalea, the young settler female, about the dangers of wandering the settlement alone. The older female didn't realize Hulagu, the Chamele boy, was standing less then an arm's length away from the girl, concealed from view.

Although Sari's action sprang from a sense of duty, not love, she was behaving as Kralj imagined a parent would.

Was that why Dita was drawn to them? Did she think he longed for a miniature version of his monstrous self, a being doomed to inflict pain on others, on him or herself, destined to kill, to always be alone? "Normal beings might want children."

She tensed, the muscles in her arms and legs flexing tight.

"But I'm not normal, little one."

"You might not want them now." Dita tossed the half-eaten nourishment bar to the side, discarding his peace offering. "But you will. All beings do."

"I'm not all beings." His stance on children would never change. "I won't bring another monster like me into this universe. I escaped the Humanoid Alliance to prevent that."

" _That_ was the action they pushed you too far on?" She looked over her shoulder, her expression openly skeptical.

Soon, horror would darken those big blue eyes.

"They added a human female to my holding chamber." He recalled the female's face, her scent, the sharp, cutting thoughts radiating from her. She had been terrified. The guards had abused her sexually, physically, emotionally before giving her to him. They had taunted her, telling her he would treat her even worse. "They wanted me to fuck her, to impregnate her. I refused."

"Your beast wasn't interested in her." Dita straightened.

"No parts of me were interested in her, not in that way." The female hadn't been Dita. "And I had already decided I would be the only one of my kind. I knew what I could do, would never wish that ability on another being." He stepped closer to his little assassin. "The female was my companion for sixty-two planet rotations. We didn't touch." She couldn't bear that. "But we talked." Eventually, she lost her fear, grew to trust him.

"You loved her." Dita leaned against him.

He strapped his arms around her and considered her comment carefully. "I cared for her." His fondness for the female was a pale, watered-down version of the feelings he experienced with Dita. "Then they took her away."

"Those bastards." She reacted as though the punishment had been hers, as though she had personally felt his pain, his grief, his anger. "Did they artificially inseminate her?"

"That had been attempted previously. The monstrous part of me wouldn't allow it." He'd killed everyone involved. "The Humanoid Alliance tried another tactic. They refused to feed me until I agreed to fuck her."

"You didn't agree." Dita placed her hands over his, the action comforting him.

"I was prepared to starve to death." He'd foolishly thought only he would be affected by his rebellion. "They waited until I was ravenous, until I was out of my enhanced mind with hunger and then they reintroduced the female to my holding chamber."

Dita turned to face him, her eyes wide. "They forced you to kill your companion." There was sympathy in her voice.

He wasn't worthy of her understanding, didn't comprehend how she could offer it to him. He'd killed a being he should have protected. "She trusted me."

The human guards had brutally ravaged the female while she was parted from him. She had approached him with no hesitation, relief in her eyes, viewing him as a friend.

And he had eaten her, ripped out her throat, devoured her until there was nothing left except picked clean bones.

He was a monster. "I misjudged my enemy, lost control over my beast, waited too long to escape, put—"

"Stop." Dita touched his face. That contact, one only his fearless little assassin would dare to initiate, brought him back to the present, back to her. "You can't change the past, handsome."

She didn't tell him he wasn't responsible, that he hadn't caused the female's death, and he valued that honesty. Kralj pressed his scarred cheek into her palm. He valued her. "It might have been our future. If you had become pregnant, I would have killed you."

"No, you wouldn't have." Her lips curled upward into a hint of a smile. "You would have thought about it and you might have tried to do it but you wouldn't have killed me."

She was right. He couldn't kill her.

"And I can't become pregnant." She searched his eyes. "I'm less of a female."

"You're not less of anything. You're everything a monster like me could want in a female." He held her gaze, allowing his lust, admiration, possessiveness to show. "You're meant to be mine, little one. Never doubt that."

They stared at each other for several heartbeats.

Dita's gaze lowered. "I'm yours until my targets leave the Refuge." She turned toward the two females.

Kralj allowed her to emotionally retreat, content to have her physically near him. She watched Sari and Azalea as they interacted. He held Dita, wondering what she was thinking. It was a unique experience for him. With any other female, he'd know.

His little assassin, however, wasn't any other female. He'd told her he ate a friend and she accepted that, continued to care for him, a monster.

Sari's handler, Yorick, a male with monstrous proclivities, entered the alleyway, looking for a female to verbally and physically abuse, that need filling his thoughts.

"Go quickly." Sari pushed Azalea frantically away from her. "Return to your domicile."

The girl took one look at Yorick and scurried out of sight. Hulagu followed her, his body placed between the girl and the handler.

"Is this why your earnings have been low?" Yorick glowered at Sari. "You've been hiding in alleyways, chatting to friends?"

"My earnings will soon be zero. I'm leaving the Refuge." Sari straightened. "When the settlers depart, I'm going with them."

"You're not going anywhere." The handler's laughter was edged with cruelty. "I own you. You'll work for me until you're dead."

"I'm not a slave." The breeding female knew Yorick couldn't kill her, trusted Kralj to stop that from occurring. She was prepared to tolerate a beating to earn her freedom. "I can leave if I wish to leave."

They argued. The handler yelled at Sari. She held her ground.

Dita stiffened more and more, her body shaking with, Kralj suspected, anger. His little assassin cared too much about the breeding female, about him, about everyone.

Yorick smacked Sari in the face, bloodying her bottom lip, the scent exciting Kralj's beast. The breeding female tried to defend herself. She had no physical skills, was at the mercy of the larger male.

She wasn't the only being in danger.

The clones were rallying their cronies, trying to incite a mass rebellion. Only the perception that Kralj controlled Dita was stemming their efforts. If residents knew she was walking freely around the settlement, they would rise up, demand he kill her.

"We should return to the beverage outlet." He nudged her forward. They'd reconciled their differences. Yorick and Sari's situation wasn't any of their concern. "It isn't safe."

"It's never safe, not for me." Dita said that casually as though she were commenting on the weather. "And it's certainly not safe for the defenseless."

"The weak will always be victims." Kralj couldn't stop that. It required all of his efforts to prevent Refuge inhabitants from killing each other.

"Being defenseless isn't the same as being weak." Dita gazed at Sari. "A weak female would back down. It takes strength to risk her handler's fury, to fight for her freedom."

"She'll lose that fight." But the female would survive. The beings in more grave danger had a greater claim on his protection. "I can't save every being." He touched the scar on his face.

"I thought you were all powerful."

"I'm not." Kralj tightened his hold on her. He'd told her part of the story. He should tell her the rest. "After I'd killed the female, I decided it was time to escape the Humanoid Alliance."

"They'd pushed you too far." His little assassin paid attention, remembering what he'd told her.

"They would have tried more extreme methods to make me procreate and I couldn't allow that." They might have been successful, might have created another monster like him. "I attempted to free all of the modified humanoids in the structure." He'd killed their Humanoid Alliance keepers en masse but opening each holding chamber had to be done manually. "It took too long. The Humanoid Alliance had the structure rigged to explode, using detonators they could control while residing a safe distance away. They couldn't risk the enemy finding us, using us as weapons against them."

"They blew you up."

"Using Erinomean Green Fire." It had engulfed him, burning him to the bone. The pain had been excruciating. Only his rapid healing abilities had saved him. "I barely survived."

"But you did survive. You lived through what would have killed any other being." She reached back and placed one of her hands on his scarred cheek, her palm cool, soothing against his marred skin.

He needed that connection, needed her. "It taught me a humbling lesson—my powers have limits. I can't protect everyone."

"I'm not asking you to extend your territory or to leave the Refuge. She's within your walls." Dita tilted her head toward the breeding female. Yorick continued to beat Sari, the female's defenses ineffective. "And she needs your help."

He valued his own freedom and wanted to help Sari. But he had set the rules. Maiming was acceptable. Killing wasn't.

"The residents of the Refuge are brutish beings." They were the scum of the universe and he was their King. "Violence is how they respond to disagreements. If I intervened in every scuffle, that's all I would be doing."

Dita squared her shoulders. "If you won't intervene, I will." She walked toward the two beings, her ass swaying, her head held high.

"No killing." Kralj allowed her to go, silently granting her permission to do what she felt necessary. He could monitor their surroundings from where he was. If anyone, the clones, Yorick, an unknown being attacked, he was prepared to act, to protect her.

"She's not your slave. You can't force her to do your bidding." Dita told the handler, his little assassin looking for a fight.

"Stay out of this, slut." Yorick responded.

Kralj's beast growled, not liking the male's tone.

"Your name is Sari, right?" Dita asked the female.

Sari's head dipped. "You shouldn't—"

"Stop talking to her." Yorick glared at Dita. "This is none of your concern."

Dita ignored him. "You're living in the Refuge, Sari." Her tone turned brusque. "Do you know what that means?"

"I can't be killed," the female murmured.

"It means you're surrounded by brutish beings." Dita paraphrased what Kralj had said. Although she constantly rebelled, she _did_ listen to him. "Violence is the response to every disagreement. Not reasoning. Not words. Violence."

"Fuck you." Yorick approached her, his chest puffed out.

Dita's tiny fist whipped outward. Skin smacked skin. Cartilage crunched. Yorick howled, holding his nose. Blood streamed down his face.

Kralj's beast roared his approval. His mate was a force.

"See." Dita waved at the male. " _That_ is how you respond."

Sari gazed at her handler, her expression a mixture of horror and awe.

"You'll pay for that, slut." Yorick ran at Dita.

Dita spun, lowering, her left leg extending, tripping the male. He fell. She treated him to a barrage of lightning-fast kicks, knocking his head back again and again.

"Little one," Kralj growled. She'd kill him if she continued.

Dita stopped, her bottom lip curling with disappointment. "No killing." She glanced at Kralj. He nodded, confirming that rule. "Only maiming." She rested her hands on her shapely hips and gazed at the other female. "Make a fist."

Sari looked at Dita, at the male on the ground, and back at her. She tentatively raised her hands, making what Kralj assumed the female thought were fists.

He shook his head. If she hit anyone with those hands, she'd hurt herself more than her opponent.

Dita winced. "Let's start again. Hold out your hands flat, palms down, fingers together, thumbs relaxed." She demonstrated. The female mimicked the position. "Curl your fingers. That's it." Sari glowed under Dita's approval. "Fold your thumbs downward. They should fall across your index and middle fingers."

The female followed the instructions.

Dita examined her fists. "Move your thumbs lower on your fingers." The female adjusted her thumbs. "That's perfect."

Yorick struggled to his feet, his big body swaying. "You're going to pay for that, slut."

"You're interrupting our lesson." She glowered at him.

"Fuck you." He rushed toward Dita.

"Wrong answer." She bent her knees, making herself smaller than she already was. Yorick, bigger, taller, missed her, his arms swinging over her head. She didn't miss him. Dita pummeled his crotch with her fists. She punched him once, twice, three times before he fell, clutching his groin, his screams high-pitched, his face an interesting shade of red.

Kralj's balls ached merely from viewing that takedown.

"Stay down." She waggled her finger at the unconscious male. "He shouldn't interrupt us again." Dita turned back to her student. "You know bodies better than most beings in the Refuge." She panted a bit, her eyes sparkling with excitement. His little assassin liked to fight. "Use that expertise against your opponents. Target their sensitive spots."

"I don't know about having expertise but that _is_ a sensitive spot." Sari smiled, the movement reopening the cut on her bottom lip.

"It is." Dita laughed. "Show me your fists." The female raised her hands. "Impressive. Let's teach you how to use them."

Kralj leaned against a domicile and watched as his female demonstrated how to punch an opponent. Sari mimicked the motion. Dita corrected her. Eventually the older female grew comfortable and they sparred playfully, Sari's confidence blossoming under the instruction. Yorick remained down, sprawled face first on the pathway stone.

The male wouldn't stay like that forever. Kralj preferred that both of the females be far away from Yorick when he regained consciousness.

"Little one," he murmured.

"I have to go." Dita smiled at the female. "Continue to train. Ask the girl you were speaking with, Azalea, to assist you." She jogged to Kralj's side, her expression triumphant. "Now, Sari has a chance of survival." She grasped his hand.

He savored that renewed connection. "She has a better chance." Kralj led Dita through the maze of shadows, directing her back to his lair. "I'm revoking my permission to leave the chamber."

"I figured you would." She swung his arm. "Master."

He stifled a sigh. She was untrainable. "You were patient with the female."

"I treated her the way I wished others had treated me." Dita skipped along beside him. "My training was...harsh."

"It was effective." His training was harsh also. "You didn't kill the male."

"I didn't kill Sari either." She beamed at him, her beautiful face glowing.

His lips twitched. "Was that a possibility?"

"There was a very good possibility of that happening." Her head bobbed, her brown curls rearranging around her face. "Killing quickly is automatic for me. It's an assassin thing—get in and get out as fast and as quietly as possible." Her lips twisted. "It feels wrong, unnatural to fight and not kill my opponents. I don't know how Refuge residents do it."

They weren't monsters, not like Dita, not like him. "Don't fight others when I'm not near." He'd prevent her from killing them.

"Yes, master." She jauntily saluted him.

She was impossible. He shook his head. "We should stop talking."

They were nearing the beverage outlet. Beings could be listening to them.

Dita leaned closer to him, entrancing his beast with her softness, her scent, her warmth. "You should carry me," she whispered. "Master." The title lost some of its significance when she added it as an afterthought. "It'll reinforce the message that you own me."

He gazed at her, not-at-all-fooled by her submissive act. "You like being carried." And he liked carrying her. Kralj swung her over his shoulder and slapped her body covering-clad ass.

"I love it." She sighed happily, wiggling. "I love heights."

"That's because you're small." It was a struggle to keep his tone stern. "I should be punishing you, not rewarding you."

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk?" She told him pertly.

He spanked her ass hard, reprimanding her for that comment. She moaned, the musk of her arousal swirling around him, taunting the primal part of him.

"Control yourself." He told both Dita and his beast.

Her body shook. He was a monster, ruled the Refuge, could kill a being with one thought and the damn female was laughing at him. She was fearless.

Kralj kicked the beverage outlet doors and strode inside the structure, carrying Dita like the spoils of war. Beings stared at them.

Let them look.

She was his.

Chapter Ten

Dita woke the next planet rotation sprawled over Kralj's chest, his arms around her, his cock inside her. They rocked gently. Always active, even in her sleep, she suspected she had instigated that movement but the male inside her certainly wasn't protesting.

He had taken her three times during the rest period, filling her with his cum again and again, as though he'd wanted to stamp his possession over every cell of her body. She felt owned, in a good way, an empowering way, his protection extending to her.

Dita clutched his shoulders, one perfect, the other marred, the skin ridged under her fingertips, and she humped him harder, using him for her own satisfaction.

"Little one." He rolled and braced himself above her. His shadow was high above his head, extending along the ceiling. When they were alone, he didn't hide his face from her.

That trust warmed her heart. Dita cupped his cheeks. Kralj flinched as he often did when she touched his scars but he didn't pull away. He thrust into her with bone-jarring vigor, his jaw jutted.

Dita wrapped her legs around him, dug her heels into his clenched ass and held on as he ravished her, pushing deep and withdrawing, pushing deep and withdrawing. He gazed into her eyes, funneling his energy into her. She couldn't feel it, they didn't speak of it, but she knew.

And she allowed it, welcomed it. When he was fucking her, she wasn't an assassin, a killer, a protector for all females on the planet. She was his fuck tool, an outlet for him.

Dita felt semi-normal.

Kralj's chest rumbled as he drove into her, his thrusts shaking the sleeping support. Sweat covered their bodies, slickening the slide, tightening the connection between them. She arched, rubbing against him, her pussy constricting around his shaft.

Their bodies had been primed while they slept, their arousal built from many moments of rocking. Passion now flared wildly, burning their restraint to ash. She didn't fight it, flinging herself into the fire, stroking Kralj's face with her fingers, brushing her breasts over his chest, massaging his shaft with her inner walls.

His rumbling intensified. She saw his beast in his eyes. "Kralj, master." She strained against him, licking his chin, tasting the salt on his skin.

He snarled, surged into her, nipped her neck. The slight pain scorched her to her core. She cried his name, bucking upward, the flames engulfing her, heating her body, her heart, her soul.

He bellowed and pushed deeper, pinning her ass to the sleeping support, pouring all of him into her. Nanohumanic-infused cum hit battered flesh and pleasure blazed through her. She screamed, clenched his cock, screamed again, writhing, battered by bliss.

Kralj shuddered and collapsed, flattening her. Dita mumbled. He shifted to the side, allowing her to breathe. One of his arms remained flung across her stomach as though he couldn't bear to release her.

She liked that. A little too much. Dita stared up at the ceiling, savoring her link with him, her thoughts razed, her body limp.

Kralj grasped the cleaning cloth on the horizontal support beside him and ran it over her still form, his touch gentle, reverent. He didn't treat her as less than whole. He embraced all of her.

"I can do that." She covered his hand with hers.

"I know you can." He moved that hand. "But you're mine. It's my responsibility to care for you."

She released him. "Is that how you view me—as another responsibility?" He already had many duties, assuming accountability for everyone within the Refuge. She didn't want to be one more burden for him to bear.

"No."

Kralj didn't say more, sweeping the cleaning cloth over every part of her, snapping the square to refresh it. He couldn't remove the bubbling inside her. She'd keep that piece of him, that link to her male.

"If I'm to be locked up in our chambers all planet rotation long, I need a task to complete." She would be bored out of her mind otherwise. "Preferably something physical."

"You won't be locked up in our chambers." He passed her body covering to her. "You're spending the planet rotation with me."

Her spirits revived. "We're hunting?" She donned her garment and her boots.

"No." He tugged on his ass coverings. "Ruling the settlement requires more than doling out death sentences." Kralj handed her weapons to her. "We'll start the shift with a perimeter check."

He performed those often.

"But perimeter checks are unnecessary." She filled her sheaths with daggers and her holsters with guns. "You hear every noise within range, read every being's thoughts."

"Residents need to see my surveillance to believe it." He covered his bare chest with his long leather coat. "You won't take action and you're not to speak. Any order I give, I expect you to follow."

"And if I don't follow your orders?"

"Beings will die." His eyes gleamed. "Others will be watching us, little one. If you question my commands, they will also. Rebellion is contagious."

"You can handle a rebellion." She stood, having no doubt about that.

"I can but I don't want to do that." Shadow once again covered his face. "Follow me closely." He stalked out of the chambers, his coat flowing behind him.

She trailed him, moving silently, excitement pumping through her veins.

Orol, Kralj's second-in-command, waited outside the private chambers. He glanced at Dita, not hiding his curiosity, and slipped between them, giving his Ruler an update she suspected the mind-reading male already knew.

Dita was content to be at the end of the humanoid train. She would protect Kralj's rear.

It felt strange to be walking in full light. It was...uncomfortable. One of the assassin rules was not to be spotted yet every being in the public chamber stared at her.

She placed her palms on the handles of her guns.

"Little one." Kralj rumbled. He didn't turn his head.

She moved her hands. He wanted to be seen. That was the point of the perimeter check. And he didn't wish for her to kill his residents.

Kralj spoke with beings. One male was questioned about a delivery of beverage. Two females gained approval for shift changes. Everyone was terrified of their Ruler but the discussions were surprisingly non-violent.

Dita listened with interest. Was this what normal people talked about? It seemed intriguingly boring and inconsequential. Kralj's monster must be pulling at its chain.

She extracted two daggers, spun them as Kralj conducted business.

"I prefer daggers myself." Orol grinned at her.

Was this a test? Dita sheathed her weapons and looked at Kralj. He had told her not to speak.

"I can't read minds." Orol must have thought she was trying to communicate with him telepathically. "I have other abilities." He fluttered his wings. "But not that one."

She glared at Kralj.

"You'll have to talk to me." Orol clearly believed she was low on intelligence. "Say the words, little female."

"Orol." Kralj barked.

The winged male's back straightened.

"A ship has landed too close to the north wall. The Captain is refusing to move it. Ensure that he does."

For some reason, that order amused Orol. "Yes, sir." The winged male winked at Dita, his eyes sparkling.

" _Now_ , Orol." His leader had no patience for delays.

The male's feathered wings shook as he left to carry out the command.

Kralj pulled Dita close to him, tucking her into his side. He finished his conversation with the female in charge of the gaming section.

Having obtained her instructions, the female hurried away from them.

Kralj gazed down at Dita.

"You didn't speak." His tone was edged with pride.

Dita lifted her chin. She was an assassin. Her willpower was strong.

"You can do this." He tapped her nose, turned, and walked through the beverage outlet. Buoyed by his approval, by his confidence in her, Dita skipped behind him, her gaze on his broad shoulders, the swagger in his stride.

They exited the structure and followed the pathways, venturing through the settlement. Males haggled over the price of a gun. A little boy slipped a circle of gold-colored metal off a female's wrist and darted away. The female screeched, asking others to stop him. No one did.

Dita was a female accompanying her male, her schedule for the planet rotation consisting of non-lethal tasks. Perhaps her dream of being normal wasn't as unobtainable as she'd believed. She even had a friend...of sorts.

Sari sat at a horizontal support, with Azalea and two other females. Nourishment bars and containers of beverage were set in front of them.

As Dita passed them, the older female held out her hands, palms down, and slowly curled her fingers. Dita nodded, giving her a smile, pleased. Sari hadn't forgotten the previous planet rotation's lessons.

"Little one." Kralj didn't sound happy.

Dita frowned, not knowing what she'd done to displease him. She hadn't spoken, hadn't taken any action other than nodding.

"You're hopeless." He shook his head and approached a merchant. Kralj requested a nourishment bar, tossed it to Dita.

She snatched it out of the air with her weaker left hand, flipped it, caught it again, walked it across her knuckles, before unwrapping the nourishment bar and eating it.

Kralj shook his head again, signaling his disapproval. Playing with her food must be one of his many rules.

They moved through the settlement. While he talked with a battered warrior about the Humanoid Alliance, his old enemy, and the war they were waging against the rebels, he handed Dita a container of beverage. She sipped and listened. When she set down the container, they walked once more.

Beings stopped Kralj often, asking for his judgment on events. He gave it quickly. His ability to read minds must make such rulings easier. He knew every being's side, their words, their thoughts, their intentions.

They reached a secluded portion of one of the walls. Kralj stared at it for a moment. "Could you still enter the Refuge undetected?"

She nodded.

"No one is listening to us. You can speak."

She clasped his hand and gazed up at the wall. "I can enter your settlement undetected but that's only because I'm the best and you can't read my thoughts."

"I've never met any being like you." His words were softly spoken. "I don't know how to defend against your kind."

"I don't have a kind. I'm unique, like you are." Dita smiled at him and lights flared in his dark eyes. "There were rumors in the Guild of another female with similar blocking abilities, but she lacked my stealth skills." She paused. "She's also dead."

"That doesn't mean you're the only one." Kralj squeezed her fingers. "I've been relying too heavily on my abilities."

"That was my mistake also," she admitted. He had defeated her easily.

"What would you have done differently?"

Dita considered that question carefully. If she had been less open, less honest with him, she might have killed two of her three targets, instead of only one, but Kralj wouldn't have given her the gift of his trust. "Nothing. I wouldn't have done anything differently."

He lifted one of his eyebrows.

"If I had done something differently, that would have changed this." She held up their linked fingers. "And I like this, handsome. Very much."

His gaze heated. "You like it? Even though you can't speak while we're in public?"

"You must have your reasons for that rule." She was paired with a cautious male. She accepted that. "And I don't have to follow it forever."

Once the clones left, she would be free of his restrictions, able to live her lifespan on her terms. That thought should have made her happy.

It didn't.

"I do have my reasons." He sighed. "Tell me how you'd enter the Refuge undetected."

She told him. He asked questions, listened intently as she answered. They crafted plans to fill the holes in the settlement's security.

The discussion shifted Dita's view of herself. Last planet rotation, she had taught a female how to protect herself. This planet rotation, she might have assisted in safeguarding thousands of beings.

She could never create life. That option had been stolen from her. But she was saving lives. She wasn't taking them. That was a different role for her.

Time vanished, stolen away by the pleasure of another being's company, Kralj's company. That was a different experience also.

For both of them. They had been solitary for so long, isolated by their unique abilities, their bloody views of the universe.

Kralj led her to the top of the wall. They watched the sun dip below the horizon, painting the sky brilliant reds and oranges. Darkness stretched across the sand dunes.

"We're creatures of the shadows, you and I." He wrapped his arms around her. "We're most comfortable when we're unseen, hidden in the unlit corners of the universe, concealed in the blackness."

"It _is_ uncomfortable being in the spotlight," she agreed.

"Once it isn't necessary for others to see you, to know that you're with me, that I approved of your past actions, then I'll conceal you."

He'd extend his shadow over her. She'd be part of him. Dita rested her head on his shoulder. "Does your beast need to be fed?"

"My beast is sated." He gazed out at the sand, his body supporting hers. "For now, it is content to hold you."

Her monster was content also. "I enjoyed this planet rotation." Dita never expected her lifespan to give her moments like this. She'd treasure them until she breathed her last breath. "It felt...normal."

"As normal as the two of us can be." He rubbed his chin against her hair. "You didn't kill anyone."

"I thought about it. Often." She laughed, the sound floating on the cool breeze. "That warrior? The one with the beverage? I was tempted to challenge him to a fight, to test his skill."

"I might have allowed that." Humor lightened Kralj's normally dark tones. "The old battle-axe spent the conversation thinking about your ass."

Dita's mirth bubbled out of her once more. "It must be challenging to hear everyone's thoughts."

"It's noisy." He dipped his head. "And humbling."

"They fear you." She didn't need to read minds to know that. It was written on their faces.

"They should fear me but some of them don't."

"Those are foolish beings." Dita didn't fear him. He'd never hurt her. But she did respect him, would never underestimate him. "They haven't seen the full extent of your powers."

"You'll ensure they never see that." He turned her until she faced him. His expression was grim. "You'll help me keep my powers in check."

"I _will_ help you." She promised. "As long as I can."

Was that the only reason he wanted her—because she could absorb his powers? He could fuck her, feed from her and not worry about exploding beings?

"I need you, little one." Kralj cupped her cheeks, his fingertips rough against her skin. "I've never needed another being. It is...discomforting."

Discomfort wasn't love but it was better than the fear, the hatred others had shown her. "This is new for both of us."

She'd never been in a relationship, had never been needed in this way.

"I'm never letting you go." The emotion in Kralj's eyes took her breath away.

He would have to let her go. She had a vow to keep, two targets to hunt once they left the Refuge. He wouldn't join her, would never leave his settlement. They couldn't stay together.

She should tell him that. Her lips parted. He covered them with his, the force of his kiss driving her head back. His tongue surged between her teeth, slid along hers.

Dita moaned, grasped his coat-clad shoulders, lifting onto her tiptoes. He threaded his fingers through her curls and held her as he stroked into her mouth, fucking her with his tongue. He sucked and licked and made her his yet again.

When he finally broke their kiss, all thoughts of leaving him had faded.

Chapter Eleven

Four planet rotations passed. Over a normal rest period, Kralj killed one or two offenders, beings who had broken his rules. During the previous rest period, he had killed three offenders. Dita, with his approval, had killed an additional three. Although that pleased his beast, it worried his more rational side.

Residents were becoming more and more brazen, threatening beings under his protection, not adhering to the rules, not fearing his wrath.

Todt-932, the second clone, was responsible for that rebellion. He recruited quietly, utilizing the residents' fear of change and the rumors about Dita, not thinking Kralj noticed his activities.

Kralj heard everything. He knew about the actions organized, the words whispered, the thoughts pondered.

Todt-932 had sent his brother on a fruitless mission at sunrise, directing him to venture far from the settlement, ensuring there would be no doubt in residents' minds who was in charge.

He had gathered his minions, was riling them to the point of violence. They planned to confront Kralj in mere moments.

Kralj would face the angry mob first, operating on his timeline, his terms. He was the Ruler of the Refuge. This was his settlement, not the clone's.

Residents stared at him as he passed them. Their thoughts rushed over him. Everyone was aware of the unrest. They questioned his ability to manage it.

They didn't know him. Kralj scowled, his shadow dark and foreboding, the wind whipping his coat. No one did, not truly, not even the tiny assassin following him.

He had told her of his abilities but hearing about them and seeing them were two very different things. Would she align herself with him once he released his monster?

Would she stay with him after he informed her Todt-933, the third clone, had left the Refuge? He was a male of honor, had given her his word. She trusted him to keep it. He had to tell her.

But not now, not yet.

Three females nudged each other as he approached, their gazes on the female behind him. They extended their arms, their palms flat, facing downward, and carefully made fists.

If Kralj wasn't certain of her loyalty, he'd suspect Dita of leading another rebellion. But the females' thoughts were of gratitude and admiration, not anger or fear. They had been sharing his little assassin's self-defense lessons.

Would their thankfulness eventually turn to hatred? Would they betray his female as their male counterparts plotted to betray him?

When those beings first stepped through the Refuge's gates, they had seen the place he'd built as being special, a miracle on a desolate planet. Time passed and that appreciation had dimmed. They now took the Refuge for granted.

They took him for granted.

And this planet rotation, they planned to battle him for control of the settlement _he_ had built.

They would lose.

"What do you want me to do?" Orol, his second-in-command, fell into step beside him.

"Guard the front gate with Balvan." Kralj gave the winged male a task. "No one enters." He didn't require any assistance with the uprising.

"Consider it done." Orol sauntered away, heading for a better takeoff point.

Dita took his place beside Kralj, bumping against his arm. He looked at her. She rested her hands on her holstered guns and lifted her eyebrows.

He shook his head.

His damn female didn't move her hands. She would insist on participating in the killing, thinking she was helping him, and that would lessen the impact of his response.

"They're testing me," he explained. "I have to be the one to deal with them."

"If they hurt you," she whispered, "they will deal with _me_."

His lips twitched, the weight on his heart lifting. "They can't hurt me."

He suspected only she could do that. She had a power over him he couldn't defend against.

_Mate_ , his beast growled.

Kralj ignored it and turned the corner.

A mob filled the pathway. They consisted of the most violent residents and the most gullible. Yorick, the breeding female's handler, was among them, his face bruised from Dita's assault.

Almost all of the mob members were male. They clutched weapons, believing those would be enough to protect them.

Todt-932, the second clone, saw him and stopped, his eyes rounding, his jaw dropping. _Shit. How did he know?_

"I know everything." Kralj answered his unspoken question. "You don't want to do this."

He gave the male an opportunity to change his mind, to stop this madness. Kralj could ensure that happened. He could turn every resident in the Refuge into his slave but he hadn't escaped his own bonds to take away the freedom of other beings.

All he asked was that his rules be obeyed.

"What we want is the assassin's head on a stake outside the settlement." Todt-932 foolishly clung to his plan. His gaze shifted to Dita.

The clone dared to look at his female. Kralj's chest rumbled, his beast angered by the male's insolence.

"She broke one of your _rules_." Todt-932 encased that last word with sarcasm. "She killed my brother. She should die for that."

"I allowed her to kill your brother." Kralj stepped to the right, blocking the clone's view of Dita.

"You didn't _allow_ her to do anything." Todt-932's top lip curled. "You finally found a female who could look past your ugly face and she's leading you around by your cock."

Kralj folded his fingers into tight fists, his temper rising. "Careful, Todt-932."

The wind around them strengthened, portholes in nearby domiciles rattling.

"You're weak, unfit to rule the Refuge." Todt-932 wouldn't be cautioned. "We're taking control."

The mob cheered, waving their guns, their swords, their weapons giving them courage. Beings hurried to the left and to the right of Kralj, taking positions on the tops of domiciles, in doorways, surrounding him.

Kralj's lips flattened. They believed they had captured him.

That's how little they thought of his abilities.

"This won't end well." He struggled to keep his voice level, calm.

"This won't end well for you, you mean." The clone jeered, looking at his buddies for agreement. They grinned and nodded their heads. "You're surrounded. You might be able to defend yourself against one or two of us but you can't fight everyone here."

"Can't I?" Kralj extended his shadow over the entire settlement, partially blocking the sun, casting them all into darkness.

Some of the males swallowed hard, sweat beading on their faces.

_Can he?_ Todt-932 had a moment of doubt. _No, that's impossible._ "You can't fight everyone. We know how you kill—with swords, axes, your teeth."

They were fools and Kralj had no patience for them. He'd allowed them within his walls, had given them sanctuary, a safe place to reside and this was how they repaid him—with disrespect, rebellion.

Threats. Against him. Against his mate. That angered him most of all. _No one_ threatened Dita.

"You know how my beast kills." Kralj met Todt-932's gaze directly. "That isn't the part of me that should scare you."

He pushed the air around them, swirling it into a vortex encompassing the entire settlement. Wind plucked at garments, at hair, pitted skin with sand.

A few of the males retreated, having the intelligence to be frightened.

The rest of the males raised their weapons. They were determined to end their lives.

"Try to kill me and you'll die." Kralj gave them one last chance to live.

"Not if we're successful." Todt-932 aimed his long gun at him. "Now."

Guns were fired. Daggers were thrown.

Kralj's enhanced mind reacted, manipulating his amplified brainwaves, stopping everything. There was stillness, an eerie quiet. Beings froze in place.

Projectiles and blades hung in the air around him, around Dita, for one heartbeat, before falling to the pathway, the ping, ping, ping of metal against stone musical.

Beings breathed. The wind whistled.

No one, except for Dita and Kralj, could move. He had taken away that ability. They could listen, they could feel and they could think, their fear washing over him in dark waves.

He could have spared them that.

But he didn't. He wanted them to experience everything.

"Don't expect anyone to save you." He took away that hope also, broadcasting that message and the scene around him to every resident in the settlement, pushing the images and words into their minds. "I've blocked all entry to the Refuge. Everyone inside the walls shares your state."

_He couldn't have frozen everyone._ Many beings shared Todt-932's doubt.

Kralj's lips twisted. "I've frozen everyone, human, humanoid, other, even the insects deep within the sand." He did that because he could and because he was angry, furious at the dissenters, at their disrespect and their gall. "There's one exception—the assassin you tried to kill."

Dita was the exception to every rule. He turned and looked at her, needing to visually reassure himself that she was unharmed. Her face was pale but he saw no other signs of distress.

She caught his gaze and glanced down at the pathway. A line of projectiles and daggers encircled her, an arm's length from her booted feet.

"We can speak." He gave her permission. Keeping their conversations private hadn't stopped the rebellion. "I would never allow any being to hurt you."

"I thought we were dead." She gave him a shaky smile.

The males had scared his normally fearless female. Kralj's fury spiraled higher.

"Nothing happens within the Refuge without my approval." His voice rose. That message was for everyone. "They can't kill you. They can't hurt you. They can't touch you. I hear all of their thoughts, know all of their actions."

"They realize that now." Her voice was soft.

"Now is too late."

Kralj scanned the faces in the mob. They'd feel his wrath this planet rotation. He'd hold nothing back.

"You called me weak." He glared at them. "You claimed I was unfit to rule. You thought you knew the extent of my power," he boomed. "You believed all you had to fear was my beast. You didn't know I killed that way because it was a kindness. My beast isn't the reason I am a monster."

He unleashed the true horror inside him, directing it first at Todt-932. The clone's mind was weak. His body's settings, including its ideal temperature and its reaction to stimuli, were easy to manipulate.

Todt-932's skin turned bright purple. His eyes bulged. His breathing grew ragged, fast.

Kralj released his mental hold on the male's mouth.

Todt-932 screamed, a wail expressing the most gruesome pain a being could endure. His face, arms, hands bubbled, the welts growing larger and larger and larger. His chest rapidly rose and fell, his heart under strain, unable to keep up with his brain's demands.

The clone exploded in a spray of blood and guts, splattering the beings next to him with gore. Without raising a hand, Kralj had killed him. That was how easy it was for him.

It was also satisfying, a release of the constant pressure inside him. His monster reveled in its power, was pleased with the results.

Everyone else in the settlement had been horrified. Their thoughts swept over him—their revulsion, their terror, their disgust. Wave after wave of dark emotion hit him.

Dita had to feel the same way. He'd heard her gasp but he hadn't turned his head. He didn't have the strength to look at her, to see the end reflected in his little assassin's blue eyes.

Their relationship was over. Kralj whipped the mob with wind, inflicting on them the pain he felt. She would leave him now. No female would choose to be with a male who could kill with one stray thought, who could wipe out an entire settlement, all of her friends, all of the beings she loved, dying in an instant.

She'd leave him and he'd have nothing, nothing except the rage in his heart, the blackness in his soul.

"Even now, you think you've seen the worst of me." He'd show her everything. "You haven't, but you will."

The clone's inner circle were his next targets, twenty-three of Todt-932's top males plus Yorick, the male who had dared to attack Dita. They bubbled. They screamed. They burst, coating the beings around them in crimson.

"Kralj." Dita touched his arm. "They've learned their lesson. You've done enough."

"They broke the rules." Kralj chose twenty-five more targets, the worst of the lot, child killers and remorseless males. "They know the consequences."

"They were scared, weak, had a moment of doubt." She stood in front of him, gazing up at him. "They followed the wrong leader." Her words were barely audible over the screams. "Would you punish them for that?"

"Yes." He'd punish all of them, make them hurt as he was hurting.

The beings exploded.

"Look at me." She cupped his scarred face, forcing him to do exactly that.

Kralj gazed down at her and blinked. There wasn't disgust, fear, or loathing reflecting in her big blue eyes. They were soft with pride, sympathy, caring.

"Look at me," she repeated. "Give me everything." She petted his cheeks, her fingers rough yet gentle. "Flow it into me. That's it."

She murmured those four sentences over and over, touching him, soothing him. His beast rumbled with contentment. His anger dissipated.

Why wasn't she afraid of him? "I can kill with a thought." Hadn't she noticed that?

"You can't kill me." She smiled at him.

"I'm a monster." He was confused.

"I'm one also." She lowered her hands to his shoulders.

He wanted her palms on his face. "I can kill everyone inside the Refuge without lifting a finger."

"You can kill everyone except me." She squeezed his shoulders, as though reassuring him.

_She_ was comforting _him,_ a being genetically designed by the Humanoid Alliance for only one purpose—to end lives as quickly, as efficiently as possible.

"You've taught them a lesson. You can stop now." Dita held his gaze. "Leave us someone to hunt." She patted the handles of her guns. "Your beast will thank you."

"The beings here tried to kill you." Why wasn't she angry with them?

"They were stupidly following someone else's orders." She touched his face again and he calmed. "You killed that being and you stopped them. If they try again, you'll stop them again." She grinned. "And then we'll track them and end their foolish lives. Together."

They'd stalk from shadow to shadow, her tiny fingers in his large palm, her scent in the air. Kralj breathed deeply. They'd kill. He'd feed on the target. When his hunger was sated, he'd sip on her while they fucked like wild things against a blood-smeared wall. He'd be balls deep inside her hot, wet pussy and fangs deep in her delicate neck. His cock hardened. He'd fill her with his seed, marking her as his.

He wanted that future.

Resolute, he faced the motionless mob. "You have broken one of the Refuge's rules. The sentence for that is death." He clasped Dita's hand. "But my mate has requested I spare you."

Her breath hitched.

"Don't mistake my leniency for weakness." He warned them, hiding his tender feelings for his little assassin under a glower. "If you break the rules again, you _will_ die. You can count on that."

Kralj stomped away from them. Dita hurried to keep pace. He shortened his stride to accommodate her, wanting her by his side. Always.

"Thank you for not killing everyone." She swung his arm as she skipped along beside him. "I can see why you prefer not to end lives that way."

He preferred not to end lives that way because it scared the shit out of everyone, including himself. Kralj thought that, said nothing.

"Killing with your mind isn't much of a challenge." Dita wrinkled her nose. "And it's over so quickly."

His ability didn't scare his female.

She must be even more messed up than he was. That was the only explanation he could find for her acceptance.

"It would be like me using guns." She drew one of her weapons, twirled it in her dainty hand. "One tap of the trigger and it's done." She holstered it again, extracted a dagger. "I like blades." She threw it in the air and caught it. "Killing with them requires skill. I have to get up close and personal. If I make one mistake, I'll spook my target."

They were far enough away from the mob. He released everyone within the settlement from his psychic restraints.

Beings took one look at him and ran in the other direction.

"You like battle-axes." Dita chattered, seemingly oblivious to the residents' reactions. "They're your favorite weapons. I can tell. There's genuine joy on your face when you wield them."

There was genuine joy in his heart when he was with her. "Battle-axes aren't my favorite weapons."

"Really?" Her head tilted, her abundance of curls rearranging, as alive as she was.

"Really." He tightened his hold on her. "My favorite weapon is you."

"Oh, Kralj." Her eyes shone with a suspicious gleam. "That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you."

Only his damn female would think being called a weapon was sweet.

Only she understood him.

Chapter Twelve

Dita wasn't merely an assassin. She was Kralj's mate. That felt good. It felt right.

And she was free. Todt-932, the second clone, had been killed. Todt-933, the third clone, wherever he was within the settlement, must have been killed also. Kralj wouldn't have allowed him to live. Her vow to the survivors had been fulfilled.

Dita danced beside Kralj, nanohumanic-infused energy bubbling inside her. His mouth was as grimly set as it usually was but gold specks glittered in his dark eyes. He was happy also.

She wasn't a fool. His abilities scared her a little. But he couldn't use them against her. Even if he could, he wouldn't. He'd never hurt her any more than she wanted to be hurt.

She drifted her fingertips over her neck, finding the bite marks. Although the skin was healed, she continued to feel his fangs inside her, the arousing tug and pull as he fed.

"Show me respect." Kralj's deep voice rolled over her, tightening her nipples.

"I'll show you respect." She grinned. "While we are in public."

She understood more clearly now why he required her to blindly obey him while others watched them. Rebellion was contagious, those were his words, and when beings rebelled inside the Refuge, those beings died.

She had no doubt, if she hadn't interceded, he would have killed every member of the mob. He was designed for that action, as she was.

Dita gripped his hand, securing her hold, straightened her arm, and lifted herself off the pathway, slowly extending her legs in front of her. Kralj carried her, not breaking his stride.

Beings stared at them. It was a display of strength for him and for her. Her muscles burned. Her arm shook. Sweat trickled down her spine.

"You're impossible." Kralj grabbed her by the waist, draped her over one shoulder and slapped her ass, flesh connecting with tight leather. "What am I going to do with you?"

"I have some ideas." She wiggled.

"Not now, little one." He slapped her ass a second time.

Later was implied. He'd sink his fangs into her neck. Her pussy grew wet at that thought. And he'd fuck her into the sleeping support, driving into her, giving her a taste of his tremendous power.

There was a flapping of wings. Wind rushed over them. Kralj slowed, stopped.

Dita twisted her body to look behind her. Orol, Kralj's second-in-command, had landed in front of them, his feathers fluttering. He grinned at her. She grinned back at him.

"Sir, there's a Humanoid Alliance warrior at the gate, requesting sanctuary." He relayed information she suspected her all-seeing, all-hearing male already knew.

"Deny him entrance." Kralj's answer was curt.

The Refuge's Ruler didn't like the Humanoid Alliance. That was understandable. They'd genetically designed him, had enslaved him, tortured him, burnt his face.

That didn't stop those warriors from requesting admission to the Refuge. Now that the Humanoid Alliance had been defeated in war, they were hunted, homeless.

That garnered no sympathy from Kralj. He denied all of them.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Orol didn't like the Humanoid Alliance either. "I'll communicate that to Balvan."

The winged male didn't move.

"And?" Kralj didn't try to hide his impatience.

It was caused by sexual frustration. Her rigidly controlled, ruthlessly self-sufficient male desired her. Dita squirmed, overwhelmed by that same need.

He strapped his arms over her legs, inhibiting her range of movement. That restraint, perversely, increased her excitement. She liked it when he held her to him, as though he never wished to let her go.

"About what happened, back there." Orol dipped his head toward the site of the mob confrontation. "I'd heard rumors of your powers. All of the modified humanoids had. I saw the guards, what was left of them, when you freed us from our holding chambers. But..."

A painfully awkward silence fell between them as the winged male struggled to voice his thoughts.

That was unnecessary. Kralj must have already read them.

Dita wanted to hear the conversation. "You didn't realize the full extent of his abilities," she prompted. "They make you uneasy."

Kralj stiffened, lowering her until her booted feet touched the pathway. He was sensitive about his powers, viewed himself as being a monster for having them.

"Yes, they make me uneasy." Orol snorted. "Any intelligent being would feel that way."

"You fear him." Most beings feared her also.

"Fear. Respect. Is there a difference?" The winged male shrugged.

"You're in no danger." Kralj's tone was curt, his face like stone. "I won't lose control again."

"We're modified humanoids, weapons any faction would love to wield. We'll always be in danger." Orol's lips flattened. "And if that was you losing control, sir, no being has anything to worry about. You were facing a mob. They attacked you, attacked your female." He glanced at Dita. "If that had happened to me, I would have killed all of them, every single one."

"I wanted to kill all of them." Kralj looked at Dita also.

"But you didn't." She beamed at both of them. "We restrained our monsters. Yay for us."

Orol laughed. Kralj shook his head and hugged her closer to him.

Another awkward silence followed.

"You don't have to say more, Orol." Kralj told him gruffly.

"I want to say more." The winged male lifted his chin. "I should have told you this solar cycles ago." He took a deep breath, released it. "It is an honor to report to you, sir. I'm proud to be part of your team."

Kralj stared at him for one, two, three heartbeats. "I freed hundreds of modified humanoids. Many asked to be part of my team. I only chose the best, the males I could trust."

"I see." Orol's voice was choked.

They gazed at each other for several moments.

"Hulagu isn't the best. He's not even close but he _has_ been working hard, trying to earn a place on the team." The winged male hid his other emotions behind a grin. "Some of us have been rooting for him."

"Some of you shouldn't encourage the kid." Kralj's lips twisted. "Relay to Balvan my decision about the Humanoid Alliance warrior." He dismissed his second-in-command.

"Yes, sir." Orol winked at Dita and walked away, a jaunty bounce to his stride.

"He's a good friend." Dita smiled, happy for both of them.

"He's not a friend." Kralj grasped her hand and dragged her forward.

They walked without talking. She silently disagreed with him. Orol might report to Kralj and follow his orders. He might be at a disadvantage, not being able to block the reading of his mind. But they had a friendship of sorts.

"Damn it." Kralj scowled at the crowd before them. "What now?"

Females of all different sizes, shapes, species lingered near the main entrance to the beverage outlet. She recognized Sari, Azalea and a couple of the others.

As Dita and Kralj approached them, they lifted their hands, making fists.

She'd taught that to Sari. A warmth filled Dita chest.

"This is a peaceful mob." She patted Kralj's arm. "They probably want to talk to me." She took one, two, three steps toward the females.

"Little one." Kralj grabbed her wrist, pulled her back to him. Their bodies smacked together, her curves flattening against his muscle.

He ran one of his hands up her spine, between her shoulder blades, sank his fingers into her hair and tugged, forcing her head back, his dominance exciting her.

Her gaze met his. His dark eyes glowed with an inner fire. It fed a corresponding flame inside her.

Kralj dipped his head and skimmed his sharp fangs along her neck, not breaking the sensitive skin or her gaze. Dita trembled, the message unspoken yet clear.

He craved her blood, wanted her, the ridge in his ass coverings pronounced, as hard and unyielding as his scarred face.

"It'll be a quick conversation." She found it difficult to catch her breath. He sucked on her neck and her fingers curled. "Very quick."

"I'll wait." His voice was a deep cavern of arousing sound, spiraling her passion upward. "But don't push my patience. I'm not in a mood to be played with, Dita."

"I'm as needy as you are, handsome." She touched his marred cheek, not hiding her wanting of him. "Maybe even more so."

"That's not possible." He held her to him.

They stared at each other, everything, everyone else, forgotten. The air snapped and sizzled with sexual tension. His heat engulfed her.

Her yearning escalated until it pained her.

Kralj released her. "If they try to hurt you, I'll kill them." Menace edged his words.

"They can't hurt me." Dita forced a carefree laugh. "I might have taught them everything _they_ know." She strode toward the waiting females, putting an extra sway into her walk, aware that he was watching her. "But I haven't taught them everything _I_ know."

Sari approached her. Her gaze darted to Kralj and then back to Dita. "Is our Ruler angry with us?" she whispered.

He was sexually frustrated, not angry. Dita suppressed a grin. "As long as you follow the Refuge's rules, you have nothing to fear."

Sari didn't appear convinced. "We saw what happened."

"How did you see it?" Dita frowned. Sari hadn't been present.

"We saw it here." The female tapped her right index finger against her temple.

Dita's lips flattened. Kralj must have pushed the images into the brains of all Refuge residents. He insisted on being viewed as a monster.

She knew why he did it. Beings who are feared are often also obeyed. But it was a lonely life to lead.

"We wanted to help you." Sari shifted her weight from her left foot to her right. "But we couldn't move and we didn't know how."

"Your Ruler didn't require any assistance," Dita assured her. Kralj could handle any threat facing him or the settlement.

"We wanted to help _you._ "

She blinked. They were concerned about _her_. She didn't know how to respond.

"For most of my lifespan, I have been selfishly focused on my own survival." Regret reflected in Sari's eyes. "I've now been shown I have a different role in the universe." She glanced over her shoulder at Azalea. "I was meant to be a protector." Her gaze returned to Dita. "Like you."

Dita stared at her. She wasn't a protector. She was a killer.

"Can you teach me how to protect others?" Sari asked.

"Can you teach all of us." Azalea stepped forward. "I know that using weapons leads to violence. Violence leads to evil and evil leads to an afterlife of nothingness. Our leader taught us that. But our hands and feet aren't weapons." She gazed at her palms. "They're a part of our body and that makes using them natural and right. I've also been told that learning self defense can stop violence, can stop the cycle of wickedness."

"That's true. It _can_ stop violence." Dita suspected Hulagu, the young Chamele warrior, had convinced the girl of that.

"Then will you show all of us how to protect ourselves?"

The other females nodded.

They wanted her to teach them. They saw her as a protector, had been concerned about her. Dita swallowed the lump in her throat. "Do you know how to punch and how to block?"

The females demonstrated. Sari had done well, relaying what she had learned from Dita. Their technique was rough but it would be perfected with time and practice. They understood the fundamentals.

"Anyone attacking you will believe he has the advantage." Dita paced back and forth in front of them, unable to remain still. "He sees you as a victim, as someone easy to torment."

"Aren't we victims?" an elderly female asked. "We're smaller, weaker, less skilled."

"You _are_ smaller, weaker, less skilled." She agreed. "But you have one huge advantage—the element of surprise. Your attacker expects you to be the helpless victim. He doesn't expect you to defend yourself."

Jaws dropped.

"Sari, come here." Dita gestured to her. She had considered demonstrating on Kralj but that might be pushing his tolerance too far. "The trick is to give the attacker no warning that you plan to defend yourself." She smiled at the nervous female. "Watch my eyes, my face, my hands. When you think I'm about to strike you, put up your arms to block me."

"Okay." Sari braced herself, planting her feet wide apart, lowering her body.

Dita feigned fear, cowering, cringing, playing the victim. Sari was wary at first, looking for the strike. Then she started to relax, pretended to threaten her.

Dita punched, her expression not changing, her eyes giving no inclination of her intentions. She stopped her fist a breath away from the female's stomach.

Sari moved her arms to block, slow to react.

That was as it should be. Dita grinned. She was an assassin, the best. No one could anticipate her attacks.

"Your eyes didn't change." Sari's tone was accusatory.

"And neither will yours...with practice." Dita glanced at the females. "Pair up. Stand a good distance apart. You don't really want to hit your partner. And practice. Five punches for one female. The other female blocks. Then switch roles. Coach your partner. Tell her how you knew she'd strike."

The exercise would teach them to hide their intentions, how to anticipate blows and it would give them an ally in the settlement.

They wouldn't feel alone.

Dita looked at Kralj. He leaned against a domicile. Shadows covered his scarred face, concealing his eyes, but she knew he was watching her.

She was no longer solitary.

Dita coached the females, correcting their punches, their blocks, giving them tips on how to conceal their next moves. Other beings observed them. A couple of children mimicked their stances.

Not all of the beings were supportive. A few males sneered, discounting their efforts, making some of the females uncomfortable. Zeb, the settler leader, droned on about the evils of violence. His arrival caused Azalea to hide in the back of the group. Hulagu, the young Chamele warrior, joined the group, placing his larger body in front of the girl, shielding her from view.

"I'll find a less public location for our next training session," Dita promised.

"Little one," Kralj rumbled.

"We'll have another training session?" Sari asked. "You'll teach us more techniques?"

"I'll teach you as many techniques as you wish." Her vow to the Guild was to keep as many of the females on Carinae E as safe as she possibly could. Teaching them to defend themselves would achieve that goal.

"Now," Kralj roared. A blast of warm wind hit her.

The females froze, their eyes widening in terror.

"He's impatient." Dita laughed. "Keep practicing." She waved at the females as she returned to Kralj's side. "We'll meet here next planet rotation at the same time."

"Will _we_?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest, his lips set in a severe line.

" _We_ have to." She smiled sweetly up at him. " _We_ must ensure _we_ don't kill anyone while _we_ demonstrate the moves. Which _we_ didn't." She raised her arms in victory. "Yet again."

His grim expression didn't lighten. "And what about your vow to kill the clones?"

"You fulfilled that vow for me." Dita lowered her arms. "I saw Todt-932 explode and I assume Todt-933, wherever he was, met his end the same way."

Kralj didn't say anything, his silence worrying her.

"Isn't that what happened?" _Tell me he's dead_ , she mentally urged, pleading with her eyes. _Tell me I'm free, my promise to the survivors kept._

"Todt-933 left the settlement at sunrise."

_No. No. No_. "You didn't kill him?"

"He was outside my range." That irked Kralj. She heard that in his voice.

Would he have killed Todt-933 if he'd been within his range? That would be have broken one of his precious rules. The clone was outside the Refuge, no longer Kralj's responsibility.

Killing Todt-933 was her duty, whether he was in the settlement, on the far side of planet or across the universe. She'd made a vow, had to keep it. "Then I have to hunt him down."

"Do you?" Kralj asked softly.

She clasped his hands and gazed up at him. "I have no choice, handsome." Dita summoned a smile. "All we have is our honor. That's our last hold on our humanity."

Chapter Thirteen

All we have is our honor.

Honor was why Kralj had told Dita about Todt-933, the third clone. Honor and his yearning to be completely truthful with her, the one being in the universe who accepted him, understood him, cared for him.

Now, that she knew, she'd leave him. As she said, she had no choice.

"Then go," he said gruffly, his monstrous heart aching. It was best that she left now, before that pain grew, before he lost himself in her completely.

He had suffered when he'd killed the female the Humanoid Alliance had chosen for him and that female had been a mere companion. Dita's parting might tear him into pieces.

"Do you want me to go?" His little assassin tilted her head to the side, her dark curls caressing her face.

His fingers twitched. He yearned to touch that softness, to capture those wayward strands, hold her to him. Forever.

Because, no, he didn't want her to go.

Kralj didn't say that. Even monsters had pride.

"Take the females with you." He'd seen the affection in her eyes as she coached them. It would hurt her if he killed them. "It's too dangerous for them here."

"The settlers are departing soon." And that saddened her. The settlers were transient residents and his damn female had grown attached to Azalea, one of those beings.

"All of the females will go also." He wouldn't harm the beings she cared for.

"You're evicting all of the females?" Dita studied him. "Why? They haven't broken any of your rules."

He said nothing. She was an intelligent being. She knew the answer to her question.

"You won't harm them, if that's what you're worried about." Dita said that with a certainty he didn't share. Her fingers clasped his.

"I could harm them." He never wanted to hurt her in that way.

"You won't." She was the most stubborn being he knew.

"I could. Easily." Kralj grasped her waist, lifted her until she was eye level. She didn't protest, didn't struggle, confident he wouldn't drop her, or injure her in any way. He would never betray that trust. "If I lose control, they're all dead."

Dita met his gaze directly, not at all intimidated. "You won't harm them. You haven't lost control since you built the Refuge. Even during the confrontation with the mob, you didn't fully let go."

His grip on her tightened. "You know why I didn't fully let go."

Only she had held him back, her gentle hands, her murmured words.

Dita curled her fingers over his shoulders. "If I promised to return to you, would you allow them to stay?"

His heart leapt. Would she do that?

Then he remembered what she was, what she could be facing in the desert. "Don't make promises you can't keep." She hunted violent males. They could harm her.

That thought made his beast howl. She belonged to him, was his to protect.

Dita opened her mouth.

"I'm not a monster you can play with, little one." Kralj needed to be inside her, to assure himself she was alive, healthy, his. He slung her over his shoulder. The impact made her gasp, temporarily silencing her. He stalked forward.

The females Dita had been training parted, scattering like prey before a great predator. They trusted his little assassin but didn't feel that same way about him.

That was wise. They shouldn't trust him.

He suspected Dita's departure would put every life within the Refuge in danger. The grief of losing her would override all of his restraints, freeing his beast _and_ his monster.

Kralj pushed the doors to the beverage outlet open with his mind, stomped through the public chambers. Patrons rushed out of their way, their thoughts a roar in his mind.

The males feared him even more now, believed him to be the monster he always knew he was. That revelation should have prompted a mass exodus from the Refuge.

But humans and humanoids were illogical. His violent display had reassured residents he could protect them. He could enforce the rules he'd crafted.

Dita had been labeled his pet, a harmless female they might cultivate to sway his decisions. They didn't yet realize she was a monster in her own right, small, delicate, beautiful, deadly.

In more ways than one. She could be responsible for their lives ending.

The turmoil inside him grew, his beast snarling, the darker, more vicious part of him testing its limits, pushing at his control.

Kralj carried her through the public chamber. His staff correctly read his mood. They didn't stop him, didn't ask the questions running through their minds.

Once he'd entered their private space, the doors closing behind them, Kralj tugged off Dita's boots. They dropped to the floor with a thunk. Her feet curled. He grasped her ankles, folded her legs into two, bent his head and licked her dainty arches, laving the skin with the flat of his tongue.

"I'm dirty." Her fingers clutched his coat.

"I don't clean my prey before I eat them." He wasn't that civilized. "And you're delicious." His beast reveled in the taste of her. "I'll lick you all over before the end of the rest cycle."

"Then I get to do the same." She tried to push his coat over his shoulders, was unable to achieve her goal. "Fair is fair."

"I'm not a fair male." Kralj cuffed her wiggling ass. "I'm the Ruler of the Refuge." He lowered her, sliding her curves over his muscle, the friction warming him, the contact hardening his cock. "And you _will_ obey me."

"Or what?" Dita lifted her chin, not at all afraid of him. "What will you do?"

She placed her hand on his scarred cheek and he shuddered, feeling the touch in his heart.

"I've shown you what I can do." And she continued to care for him. Kralj turned her away from him, not wanting her to see the emotion on his face, the possibility he'd lose that caring ripping at him.

He pulled her body covering over her shoulders, peeling the skin-tight garment away from her toned form. Her back and shoulders were crisscrossed with pink scars. He mouthed over each one, testaments to her strength, her survival.

She trembled, her softness vibrating against his lips. "I like what you can do." Her voice lowered, the sound reaching out to him. "I want to touch you too."

"No." And he shouldn't be touching her, not this way, with tenderness, with caring.

She was leaving him. Perhaps not this planet rotation, but soon.

Kralj picked her up and tossed her onto the sleeping support. She laughed, his damn female, bouncing, her curves jiggling enticingly. Nothing fazed her.

"On your hands and knees," he ordered. His beast wanted her, clawing at his insides. He'd give it this fuck, take her as an animal would.

"Handsome?" Dita looked over her shoulder, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

"Face the wall." He was taking command of this encounter, of the feelings churning inside him. He would wrangle them back under control, put them and her back in their proper place.

It would hurt less when she left him.

Maybe then no one would have to die.

"But—" She continued to battle him.

He would show her who was master. Kralj smacked her ass. Hard. With both hands, his palms stinging from the contact.

She sucked in her breath and obeyed him. The scent of her arousal hung heavily in the air. His little assassin liked her reprimand. She was a perverse being.

A fellow monster.

"Widen your stance." He unfastened his ass coverings, freeing his rigid cock.

She complied. Wetness sparkled on her inner thighs. Her pink pussy lips glistened.

Kralj tugged his ass coverings to his knees, left on his long coat, didn't remove his boots. He wanted to send his body and her a message—she was a female to be used, not a being to care for.

Because he already cared. Too much.

He dragged her to the edge of the sleeping support. She hissed but didn't fight him.

He stroked her pussy once, twice, unable to stop himself from touching her, needing to feel her wetness, to confirm she desired him. Dita moaned, soaking his fingers with her juices.

He wanted that wet heat around his cock. Kralj gripped her hips, securing her slight form, positioned himself at her entrance, and thrust hard.

She screamed, clenching him as he surged inside her, the tightness shredding his resolve.

_Mate!_ His beast wouldn't allow him to lie to himself, not while he was buried balls deep in the female he was destined to claim.

That frustrated and angered him. _He_ was in control, not his beast, not the monstrous side of him, even now rattling its cage.

Kralj didn't wait for her to adjust to his size. He withdrew to his tip, thrust even deeper, shaking her, shaking the sleeping support.

Again and again, he took her, setting a punishing tempo, losing more of his control with each drive forward. Energy escaped him. Air swirled around them faster and faster.

"Me." Dita panted. "Focus on me."

He didn't want to rely on her but had no choice. Kralj sank his fingers into her decadent curls and pulled her head back. If he didn't pour his power into his little assassin, beings would die.

After she left him, he would never touch another being. He could never risk losing control like this. She was the only being who could handle him, who could please him.

He punished her for that also, riding her hard, spanking her reddened ass with his hips, slapping his base against her pussy lips. His damn female called for more, pushing back against him, breeding with him as aggressively as he bred with her.

Fuck. She was amazing. Sweat beaded on her back, her hair grew damp.

Kralj struggled for several moments more before admitting defeat. He was a powerful being, perhaps the most powerful being in the universe, and she could take everything he gave her. There was no fighting her, no way to conquer the feelings inside him. They were too intense and she was too enthralling.

Kralj folded his body over hers, regretting his decision to wear his coat, wanting more skin-on-skin contact yet not willing to break for the heartbeat it would take to strip naked. His balls pulsed with need. His muscles pulled tight.

Dita was close to fulfilment also, her pussy constricting around his cock, her breathing fast and shallow. He reached around her form, found her clit, circled it with his fingers. A hurting sound came from deep in her throat.

Tension shifted from his shoulders to his groin, flowing down his spine. His concerns dissolved, the imbalance between them righted. She might have captured him but he had captured her also. They were both enslaved by their passion, their need, their caring.

"Kralj." Dita undulated under him.

"Little one." He dragged his lips over her neck. A vein pulsed, tempting him. Hers was the sweetest blood he'd ever tasted, as rare and as delicate as a desert rain. He teased her with his fangs.

"Yes." She pushed against him. "Feed on me."

He wanted to feed, oh, how he wanted to feed. But he resisted, toying with her skin, fucking her with everything he had, determined to remain in control.

Dita allowed that for one, two, three thrusts and then reared back, impaling her neck on his fangs. The pain broke her. She screamed, clutching his cock, severing his grip on reality.

He roared, driving into her. Cum jetted from his tip and her blood filled his mouth, the dual delights sweeping away his restraint as though it were no barrier at all. The shield on the wall dented, the clang loud in his ears. Air beat against the reinforced wall.

Dita writhed, bucked, twisted. He held her to him as he gave her all of him, his cum, his power, his heart. They were hers for now, forever. In return, she gave him pleasure unlike any he'd ever known. It pounded at him. Kralj took as much as he could, reveling in the bliss, shuddered and collapsed, flattening his little female.

She murmured a protest. He rolled with her, keeping their physical connection, not wanting to let her go. Ever.

"You're not leaving me." He had decided that.

"I might not have to." Her voice was drowsy.

He wouldn't allow them to part ways with him. Kralj licked the wound on her neck, healing it with his nanohumanics. He was keeping her.

Moments passed.

Kralj explored his female, his mate. He mouthed over the puncture marks on her pale skin, skimmed his fingers over her collarbone, along the sides of her breasts, stroking her still form, noting every curve, every scar, capturing that information, storing it in his enhanced brain.

If she escaped him, he would track her. He might not be able to read her thoughts but he knew her, knew her physique, her scent, the sound of her breathing, the way her unique mind worked.

The pinkness on her neck faded and his beast rumbled with dissatisfaction. It liked having that physical proof of its claim.

"Kralj?" Dita stiffened, her muscles flexing against him.

"What do you need, little one?" Anything she asked for, he'd supply.

"I need information." She turned within the circle of his arms.

His cock slipped from her body, the chamber air cool compared to the heat of her pussy.

She gazed at him, thought lines etched between her eyebrows. "How many males did he take with him?"

Kralj didn't ask whom she was referring to. He knew she was thinking of Todt-933, the clone, her last remaining target. "He took two males with him." Those two males were weak, had little skill with weapons. Todt-932, his brother, had kept his best warriors by his side. "He was ordered to meet with a merc on the other side of the planet."

"Beings will tell him what happened here."

Kralj dipped his head. "Four males have already left the Refuge, determined to find him."

Dita pressed her lips together. Was she considering leaving the Refuge, leaving him?

He curved his palms over her bare ass, holding her to him.

"I doubt Todt-933 will make a side trip to torment the survivors." His little assassin took her responsibilities as seriously as he did. "The males will find him...eventually. Then he'll want revenge."

Todt-933 _would_ seek vengeance. He was hotheaded, the most emotional of the three clones, and he'd been fixated on Dita, on inflicting violence on her.

Kralj pressed his little assassin's body to his. He would protect her from the clone and from anyone else meaning her harm.

"Todt-933 will come back here." Dita gazed up at him, her beautiful blue eyes ensnaring him. "You'll sense him before he reaches the walls."

"I'll sense him." Kralj confirmed, understanding his clever female's plan. "You'll have time to prepare."

She would fight the clone outside the settlement, within his territory. He would ensure the male didn't hurt her.

She'd leave the Refuge but not him.

The knot in the base of his neck unraveled.

"I don't need much time to prepare. I'm already familiar with the terrain around the walls." Her smile lit her face. "I studied it for planet rotations before you spotted me."

Her teasing had little effect on him. She was staying. That was all that mattered to him. "Then you wait."

"We wait here." Dita spread the flaps of his coat open, rested her chin on his bare chest. His stomach fluttered, the contact feeling right. "I'll help you control your monster. There's no need to expel the females from the Refuge."

"Is that why you devised this plan?" Kralj frowned, her words irking him. "You're protecting the females?"

"No." She cupped his scarred cheek. "I devised this plan because I selfishly want more time with you." His little assassin brushed his marred skin with her fingertips.

Kralj gazed at her, his eyelids partially lowered, her caresses calming him, soothing him, reassuring him. "You'll have more time with me."

He would do everything possible to ensure she stayed with him. He'd give her what she wanted, what she needed, cherishing her, caring for her.

She'd never consider leaving him.

Chapter Fourteen

Dita spent the next five planet rotations with Kralj.

She learned how to govern the Refuge with him. Although she couldn't read minds as he could, she could read faces, body language, and she offered a different perspective on situations, one he appeared to value. He consulted her often.

They talked, hunted, fucked. Dita fell asleep every rest cycle in his arms, listening to his heartbeat, her face pressed against his bare chest.

Her promise to the females of the settlement hadn't been forgotten. A portion of their time was allocated to training Sari, Azalea and others. Her focus, in recent planet rotations, had been the settlers, preparing them for the outside world, the rough, tough terrain they planned to inhabit.

Sari, viewing Azalea as the being she was destined to protect, her bid for redemption, had chosen to accompany the girl.

Dita would be losing two of her closest friends in mere moments.

"They need more planet rotations of training." She gripped Kralj's hand, finding reassurance in his coarse fingers, in his tremendous strength. "Tell them to stay longer."

Sari, Azalea and the other females weren't ready. They understood the fundamentals of self-defense but that wasn't enough.

"When I _advised_ them to do that, Zeb, their leader relayed that the beverage outlets along the route had already been reserved." Kralj didn't look at her. "He also shared his concerns about a certain resident of the Refuge. He feels she's a bad influence on the females in his group, undermining his teachings."

She was that certain resident. Zeb hated her. "You talked to them?" Dita gazed up at Kralj, surprised. "I thought you wanted all females gone from the Refuge?"

"I wasn't thinking of my own best interests when I talked with them." His tone was dry.

He had spoken with the settlers' leader for her, to ease her concerns. Dita's chest warmed. "Thank you." She squeezed his hand.

He grunted, nodding to Balvan as they exited the settlement. Dita waved at the giant green gatekeeper. The male dipped his bald head, his expression as imposing as his Ruler's, only his sparkling eyes relaying his amusement.

All of the modified humanoids considered her relationship with their leader to be a great source of entertainment, watching them with interest. She suspected that was because they had nothing more exciting to do.

Kralj didn't allow them to hunt with him. Dita lifted her head proudly. Only she had that honor.

He stopped at the display of rotting corpses. She'd added some bodies to the grisly collection. Kralj had approved those kills.

"This is as far as I go," he declared.

"Can't you make an exception this one time?" Dita looked at the caravan in the distance and then back at Kralj.

"There can be no exceptions." He released her hand. "If I venture any farther, I can't monitor the other side of the settlement. That puts all of those beings at risk."

"We'll only leave your territory for a moment." She leaned against him, wanting to talk with her friends before they departed but not wanting to venture from his side. "We'll say our good-byes quickly."

Kralj lifted one of his eyebrows. "How long does it take you to kill a being?"

"Mere moments," she mumbled. Shit. Sometimes she hated how responsible he was.

Most times, she loved it.

She loved him.

Dita had realized the depths of her emotions when she chose to stay with Kralj, rather than to hunt the third clone, her last remaining target. Yes, her plan to kill the clone when he returned to the Refuge made sense but, before she met Kralj, she would have never considered waiting for a target. She delighted in the chase, in the hunt.

"I'll survey your surroundings from here." Kralj's eyes gleamed. "Stay on this side of the caravan."

He could protect her there.

Kralj cared for her, had vowed never to let her go, but Dita didn't fool herself into thinking he loved her in return. She was the only being he could lose control with and not harm. That was why he wanted her, safeguarded her.

That caring was more than she'd ever had in the past.

For now, it was enough.

"I'll return to you." She strode away from him, putting an extra wiggle into her walk, knowing he was watching her. "I'll always return to you."

He was her new mission.

When the guild had given her the task of protecting the females of Carinae E, Dita had interpreted that to mean she should accept assignments from those females, hunting down their tormentors.

She now suspected the guild had a different purpose for her.

Kralj, one of the most powerful, most dangerous beings in universe, called Carinae E home. She, a female who wasn't susceptible to his gifts, had been assigned to that same planet.

That couldn't be a coincidence.

Or maybe it was and she was grasping at any explanation to rationalize her decision to stay in the Refuge, stay with him.

"Dita." Azalea ran out to greet her, not looking left or right, unaware of potential threats. The young female hadn't learned caution during their training sessions.

They hugged. Azalea chattered about the trip, showing Dita the skimmer loaded with belongings. The settlers had scraped up enough credits to purchase the small ship. It couldn't hold their possessions and them too. The beings would have to walk.

Dita surveyed the group and her bad feelings about her friends' trip escalated.

The settlers seemed like nice beings. They spanned generations, consisted of different sexes, different origins.

But they had one thing in common—they all appeared distressingly normal. None of them carried weapons. Not one gaze scanned the horizon, watching for attackers.

There wasn't a killer in the bunch.

Dita glanced at Kralj, waiting by the gates, standing tall, his shoulders broad. Her friends didn't have a monster to protect them.

She had to stop them from leaving.

"Azalea." Dita grabbed the girl's shoulders, turning her so she could look directly in her eyes. "Delay your departure. Do this for me. Wait until Hulagu can accompany you."

The Chamele warrior was young but he had some skills and a basic knowledge of weapons. He could defend the females.

Azalea stuck out her chin. "Dita—"

"My gut says this is wrong." Her intuition was often right.

"My soul knows this is right," the girl countered. "Before my mother died, I promised her I'd stay with the group. I won't break that promise."

"Your mother would want you to be safe." She had to convince Azalea to delay her trip.

"I'll be safe." The girl shrugged, unconcerned. "It's a big group and Sari says she'll protect us."

"Protecting you is my responsibility." Hulagu came into view. "You're my gerel."

He'd been lurking by the girl, in Chamele hunting mode, invisible to a human's gaze. Females around them gasped, their eyes rounding at his unabashed nakedness.

"It's not your first responsibility." Azalea sniffed. "Or you'd leave with us right now."

"I have to remain at the Refuge until the end of the solar cycle." The Chamele's lips flattened. "I gave my Warlord my word."

"And I gave my mother my word." The girl's eyes blazed. "You can't ask me to break it."

Dita couldn't ask her to do that either. She understood honor, understood the value of a being's word.

And the feeling in her gut might be sadness, not a warning. Azalea and Sari were friends, rare beings in her world, and the mere thought of parting ways with them made her emotional.

"I'll join you when my assignment here is over." Hulagu clasped Azalea's hands. "If I have to search the entire planet, I'll find you."

The young warrior loved the girl. Dita heard that in his voice.

"You won't have to search for me." Azalea rolled her eyes. "I have a private viewscreen. We'll communicate multiple times a planet rotation."

"I'll communicate with you when I wake and before I sleep." Hulagu stepped closer to the girl, his eyes glowing with passion. "And think of you all of the moments in between."

Dita was forgotten. She left the two young lovers to their goodbyes and wandered to Sari's side.

"Are you sure about this?" Dita asked her friend. "There are girls within the Refuge you could protect."

She couldn't stop Azalea from leaving but she might be able to stop Sari.

"I'm sure." Sari tightened some ties. "My destiny is clear. Azalea looks exactly like her." She never said the other female's name, the female whose death she felt responsible for causing. "It's my duty to protect her. I feel that here." She touched her chest.

"You might die while protecting her." Dita expressed her fear.

"I was supposed to have died that planet rotation." Sari's gaze drifted to Azalea. "The customer approached _me_. _I_ was the female he wanted. But knowing he was a brutish, violent male, I encouraged him to choose her instead of me. And I stood there as she walked into danger." Her gaze returned to Dita. "I won't stand here as another young, innocent girl walks into danger. If that decision ends in my death, I accept that."

Her bravery impressed and worried Dita. "You're a good being, Sari."

"I'm not a good being." The female's lips quirked upward. "But I owe a debt to the universe and this might repay it."

Azalea was determined to leave the Refuge and Sari was determined to accompany her, protect the girl. Dita extracted a gun from a holster on her right hip. "Take this." She held out the weapon. "It's loaded. Point the gun and tap the trigger."

"I can't accept that." Sari glanced at Zeb. The leader of the settlers glared at Hulagu. He disliked the young Chamele male and everything he represented. "Weapons aren't allowed."

That rule put every member of the group in danger. Dita holstered the gun, removed a dagger from a sheath on her thigh. "Then take this instead."

Sari looked at it. "Dita—"

"It can be used for carving stone or cutting fabric." The thought of using one of her finely honed daggers for those tasks made Dita grimace.

Sari paused for a moment and then accepted the gift. "Every settler needs an all-purpose knife." Her eyes sparkled. "Thank you."

"Keep it close by you."

"I will." Sari enveloped Dita in a fierce hug. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." It felt like a permanent good-bye, like she'd never see Sari again. "Find your peace, my friend."

"I already have." Sari's smile was serene. "This is what I'm meant to do."

"I'm glad." Dita gave her one more hug and returned to Kralj, the male she was meant to love.

He stood where she left him. As their gazes met, relief flashed in his eyes.

He didn't think she'd come back to him.

"Don't question my honor, handsome." Dita shook her head. "If I tell you I'll do something, I'll do it."

"I didn't say anything." His lips twisted.

"You don't have to say anything. I know you."

"And I know you." He reached into the folds of his long coat, removed a small battle-axe. "You have a sheath free. Carry this in it." He gave the weapon to her.

The handle was the ideal girth for her palms. The blade was darkened, none of the metal reflecting the light, and it was exquisitely engraved, a work of art. One image, in particular, took her breath away. Her Guild's coat of arms was depicted on the front gates of the Refuge.

"Is this the access code for the settlement?" She retreated behind humor, using it to manage the turbulent emotions inside her. "One throw at your gates and I'm guaranteed entry?"

"No throwing axes at my gates." Kralj's eyes glimmered. "And you will always have entry to the Refuge."

"Even if I break your rules?" She spun the axe. It was perfectly balanced.

"Even _when_ you break my rules." He turned, strode through the gates, the same gates replicated on her beautiful new battle-axe.

She had to jog to keep pace with him. "Are we hunting?' She could try out her new weapon.

"Perimeter check." He squashed that plan.

"We're taking a walk." Dita rearranged her weapons to accommodate his gift. "That's what normal beings would call it." Normal beings like Azalea and Sari, her friends.

"We're not normal beings."

She realized that. "We could act like normal beings once in a while." She clasped his hand, swung his arm back and forth. "That would be nice."

"That isn't possible, not for us." He extended the shadow over his head, blocking the sun in an impressive display of his powers.

"It _is_ possible. A perimeter check isn't much different than a walk." Dita skipped. "Normal couples go for walks, holding hands, being together."

Kralj stopped short, swung her around to face her. "Listen to me, my delusional little assassin." He cupped her chin, lifting her gaze to his. "Nothing about us is or will ever be normal."

She gazed up at him. "Because we're monsters."

"Among other reasons, yes, because we're monsters." He inclined his dark head. "We can't forget that."

Dita would never forget it. Even now, she looked forward to the next hunt, the urge to kill riding her hard. "We can have normal moments." Between the bloodshed.

Kralj frowned at her.

She smiled gently. "I'd like that."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Part of my early training exercises was to track beings without being detected." She shared some of her past. "When I had a choice, I would track normal families, parents with their children, watch them haggle with merchants over nourishment bars, play in green spaces, try on garments. The children would complain that these tasks were boring. They didn't know I dreamed of having their unexciting lifespans."

"You'll never have that lifespan, little one." Kralj brushed a curl away from her face, the hard set of his jaw softening. "You'll never be normal. That dream is outside the reach of either of us."

"I know." Dita wasn't a fool. "We will always have the need to kill. It's a part of us now." She placed her palms on his chest. "And it's a part of our role in the Refuge. Residents require our monsters to keep them safe." The settler caravan had shown her that, its members lacking the protection of a killer like herself. "But we can have normal moments, can't we?"

She willed him to understand, needing this.

Kralj covered her hands with his. "Yes, we can have normal moments."

"Thank you." Unable to reach his mouth, she kissed his chin, tasting the salt of his skin.

"You can thank me better than that." He lowered his head, skimmed his lips across hers, his touch light, almost reverent.

She curled her fingers over his nape and opened to him. Kralj deepened their kiss. They battled for supremacy once again, challenging each other, their tongues parrying, countering, advancing, retreating.

She pushed him. He pushed back. His unique flavor filled her mouth, his nanohumanics fizzing and bubbling, changing her as he had, their connection strengthening.

They were embracing in the middle of a busy pathway. Beings were forced to walk around them. Yet all she knew was him, his hands on her body, his firm lips slanted across hers, the rise and fall of his chest, the hardness against her stomach.

She slapped her tongue against one of his fangs. Pain skittered over her. The metallic taste of her own blood filled her mouth. Kralj groaned, his form vibrating along hers. He sucked on the wound, pulling on her flesh, his thirst exciting her.

The tiny puncture mark healed quickly, aided by his nanohumanics. Kralj licked her lips, capturing every drop of blood. She slid her hands under his coat, placing her fingertips over his heart, feeling it pound under her palms.

He leaned his forehead against hers. His warm breath wafted over her cheeks.

They stayed like that for several moments, wrapped up in each other.

"I'm not knowledgeable about normal," he confessed.

She gazed up at him. That must have been difficult for her proud male to admit. "I'm not very knowledgeable about it either."

The hard line of his jaw eased. "What's the difference between a perimeter check and a walk?"

Dita grinned. "The only difference I can detect is the name." She hooked her arm in his. "I suspect there's less killing involved also."

"I prefer not to kill while on perimeter checks." He led her along the pathway.

They walked. Dita greeted the females she knew. Residents gaped at them, stepping out of their way. She doubted that happened to normal beings but she had to make some allowances for Kralj being the Refuge's Ruler and for both of them being monsters.

They chattered or, to be more correct, she chattered and Kralj listened. She relayed her conversations with Azalea and Sari, conversations she pretended he hadn't overheard.

"Will they be okay?" She continued to worry about them.

Kralj's broad shoulders lifted and fell. "Most of the planet is uninhabited. Their leader has researched sources of beverage. All of the stops are settler-friendly."

The planet _was_ sparsely populated. She relaxed. The settlers would meet very few beings on their trek to their lots. Dita squeezed Kralj's hand. She had been viewing the situation from the eyes of an assassin, seeing threats where there were none.

The feeling in her gut must have been sadness. "I'll miss them."

"I know." He covered her hand with his.

Two of her newfound friends were leaving but the male she loved remained. She wasn't alone. He was by her side.

Kralj stopped at one stretch of wall. A crack in the newly resurfaced façade zigzagged from one third of the way up to the top.

She placed her hands on her hips, tilted her head back, studied it. "I could scale that."

"The crack is very small." Kralj looked doubtful.

"Watch me." Dita scrambled up the side of a nearby domicile.

"I'm always watching you." His voice warmed with emotion. "But you're going to fall. There's not enough of an outcropping to hang onto."

"Then be prepared to catch me." She swung onto the roof of the domicile, her arms burning with the effort. "We have to test the wall. It wouldn't be much of a perimeter check if we didn't."

"This is a walk, remember?" He moved when she did, remaining below her. "Normal beings don't test walls."

That was true but she couldn't resist the challenge. Dita ran and jumped. Her angle was perfect, deliberately high. She slid downward, the action shredding her skin. Her fingertips caught the edge of the crack. It held. Barely. Part of the material crumbled under her weight.

"I'm climbing your wall, handsome." She announced proudly.

"You're not at the top yet, my mentally unbalanced female."

"I will be soon." She shifted slowly, following the crack upward. Her arm muscles strained under her weight, her boots propped against smooth wall.

The resurfacing material under her left hand gave way. Dita moved quickly as that entire sheet fell, crashing against the stone pathway beneath her.

"Dita," Kralj growled.

He was right to be concerned. She _was_ in deep bovine shit.

Sweat trickled down her spine. She couldn't descend. That option had collapsed. She had no choice. She had to go up.

The integrity of the resurfacing had been compromised. Sheet after sheet fell. She climbed faster and faster, trying to outrun it. Her left grip evaporated. She reached with her right hand, clasped air.

Then she was falling. For a heartbeat, she thought she'd die, be smashed against the hard stone pathway, every bone broken. But then she remembered who was below her.

"Kralj," she called his name, her arms and legs flailing. He'd catch her. Her monster wouldn't allow her to be harmed.

"Damn it, female." He cursed as she fell into his arms. His legs were braced apart. His expression was frantic. "Your antics will end my lifespan."

"That would be a feat." She grinned up at him, breathless, her heart beating wildly. "Nothing can kill you."

"You can." Kralj patted her all over as though searching for injuries. "You take too many risks."

"There was no risk." She touched his face. "I knew you'd catch me."

He grasped her hand. "I knew you couldn't climb my wall." He sucked her injured fingers into his hot mouth, taking them up to the joints, tugging on them one at a time, healing them.

Her eyelashes fluttered, his caring of her pulling at her heart.

Looking for a distraction from her building emotions, she lifted her gaze to the structure. The resurfacing material had completely fallen away, exposing ragged wall with plenty of hand and footholds. "Any being, even a child, could climb your wall now."

Kralj turned, examined the structure. "You're right." He scowled. "But the being climbing my wall won't be you." He walked with her away from the wall. "You've had enough excitement for one planet rotation."

She didn't protest. Her muscles ached too much for another climb. "Where are we going?"

"Back to our chambers." He carried her at a mind-spinning speed.

_Our_ chambers. That sounded nice. "Ah." She snuggled against him. "You want to fuck me." She wanted the same thing.

"I want to spank your ass until it's red," he grumbled.

"That's nice too." Dita smiled.

Chapter Fifteen

Three planet rotations later, Kralj considered applying his hand to a certain uncontrollable assassin's lush backside yet again. She was doing a handstand on the edge of the wall, one strong wind away from falling to her death.

Not that he would allow her to die. He'd save her. Once more.

And she'd laugh, not even considering he might not be there to catch her.

Because she trusted him.

"Come here," he ordered.

She flipped backward, landing with an 'oomph' against him, her spine slamming against his chest. He strapped his arms around her, preventing her from bouncing off him and landing on her beautiful face.

"You called, master?" She tilted her head back, grinning at him.

He wanted to kiss her silly, sink his fangs into that vein pulsing in her pale neck, drink her dry. Instead he nipped at her bottom lip. "Respect me."

"I always do." Her laughter tinkled, the sweetest music he'd ever heard. "Are we surveying your vast kingdom?" She gazed at the rooftops, the pathways, the beings hurrying like insects below them.

Kralj did the same, holding her, savoring her feminine scent, her slender curves, the way her curly brown hair danced with the breeze. The battle-axe he'd had his top weaponsmith craft for her dangled from her waist. He'd painstakingly designed it, a miniature of his own, to fit her smaller hands, had engraved it to say everything he couldn't.

She belonged here at the Refuge, with the residents, with him. Orol was still his second-in-command. That hadn't changed.

Dita was second to no one. She was a part of him, like his beast, his monster.

"This is nice, isn't it?" She sighed, leaning against him.

Kralj didn't say anything because it _was_ nice, a word he never thought he'd associate with his lifespan. He'd been created to kill. Upon escaping, he had modified that mission to protecting the residents of the Refuge, keeping them safe from others and from himself. Caring for another being was outside his realm of consideration.

Yet he did. He cared for his little assassin, his mate, as his beast called her. She was his, the companion he'd always secretly wished to have, perfect for him in every way.

Dita wiggled her ass against his groin, teasing his leather-encased cock.

She was perfect in _almost_ every way. He splayed his fingers over her stomach, pinning her body to his, preventing her movements. She fought him, of course. She always did. But he had the superior strength and she eventually quieted.

She believed he needed to be challenged and maybe he did. Not having the ability to read her thoughts, his senses were fully engaged around her, his perception constantly tested. She made him a better monster, a better guardian of the Refuge, a better being.

He nuzzled against her neck, relishing her softness. Orol circled above him, the winged male surveying the Refuge from the air. Kralj answered questions and settled disputes, reading thoughts, pushing his insights into the residents' minds. They'd completed a perimeter check, or walk, as Dita called it, before climbing to the top of the wall. The settlement was secure.

"Kralj?" Dita turned within the circle of his arms, facing him.

"Yes?" He palmed her ass, enjoying how her curves filled his hands.

"Would you still be with me if I couldn't absorb your powers, if I was normal in that way?"

If she couldn't absorb his powers, she'd be dead. A coldness gripped Kralj's heart. He would have killed her, taken her smile, her laughter, her light from his world. That 'what if' was too bleak for him to contemplate. "You're not normal in that or any way."

She squirmed, clearly dissatisfied with that answer. "Let's say I was. Would you be with me?"

"No, I wouldn't." The thought of harming her horrified him. "Absolutely not."

"Oh." Pain flashed in her eyes.

He'd hurt her with that answer. "It would be too dangerous. I would touch you, lose control." As he always did when he touched her. "And you'd—" His voice cracked.

"And I'd die." She finished the sentence for him. "Would my death bother you?"

" _Bother_ me?" He stared at her. "It would destroy me."

"You've killed in the past and it didn't destroy you." Dita acted as though her comment made sense, as though those previous deaths would be comparable to hers.

"I didn't care about those beings." Not like he cared for her. "I care about you."

That word was inadequate for how he felt. His sun rose and set with his little assassin.

"You'd care about me even if I was normal?" Her eyebrows lifted.

"I told you from the beginning." Kralj cupped her face. "Nothing about you is normal. I've lived thousands of human lifespans and I've never met anyone like you."

"You've never met anyone with the ability to block you." Her lips flattened.

"I've never met anyone with your daring, your laugh, your hair, your off-kilter sense of humor, the way you swing my arm as we walk, how you approach every task like it's a challenge, your scent." He inhaled deeply, taking her unique fragrance inside him. "Your scars, each one earned, your acceptance of me, my beast, my monster, my past, the appreciative sounds you make as you eat a nourishment bar, your ability to blend into the shadows—into my shadows, your patience with the females you're training, the weight of your body against mine as we sleep."

Her eyes widened. "All of that makes me unique?"

"Much more than that makes you unique." He lifted her, holding her against his chest. "There's no part of you that's normal, even your insistence on pretending to be that way. I could search for the rest of eternity and never replace you."

She gazed at him. He had no idea what his damn female was thinking. A smile slowly spread across her face, making her pale skin glow and her blue eyes shine.

Fuck. She was stunning, the most enthralling creature he'd ever encountered.

"I feel the same way about you."

He doubted that. Kralj scowled at her. She didn't have a beast ripping at her innards, seeking to bond with its mate every moment of the planet rotation. "We should take another walk." That would calm his beast down.

"We should do another perimeter check." Her hand slid into his.

Walk, perimeter check, whatever she chose to call it this moment, they were doing it. Kralj pulled her forward.

Halfway through the task, she activated what she referred to as 'stealth mode,' slipping from shadow to shadow, climbing sides of domiciles, running from rooftop to rooftop, moving as quickly, as silently as a human possibly could.

Kralj watched over her, aware of her position at all times. He remembered, in the distant past, when perimeter checks were boring.

He never wanted to experience that emptiness again.

"Little one—"

He froze.

Walk. Must Save. Others. Walk. Dita. Have to. Tell her. Walk. Pain. Too much. Walk.

The thoughts originated at the edge of his surveillance range. Azalea, Dita's young friend, had entered his territory. She was alone, barely alive, had been tortured, the images in her mind obscene.

Kralj braced himself emotionally. This reunion would hurt his little assassin.

"Dita," he barked.

Her gaze lowered to meet his and her smile disappeared. "What is it?" She scrambled down the side of the domicile.

"It's Azalea." _Orol, there's a young female on the edge of my range_. Kralj gave his second-in-command her coordinates. _Retrieve her. Quickly._

_Yes, sir_. The winged male flew in that direction.

"Has the caravan returned?" Dita rushed to his side.

He swung her into his arms and ran with her toward the gates. "The caravan was attacked."

"What?" She struggled, trying to free herself. "Where? By whom?"

"It happened at the first beverage outlet." Kralj didn't release her. He'd known she'd react like this. His little assassin cared too much. "It wasn't a random assault. The clone and his males were waiting for them."

Kralj exited the settlement with her, stopped at the line of corpses.

"That bastard." Dita bucked. "I have to go to them, help them."

"Orol is bringing her to us." The winged male had located Azalea.

Kralj contacted the Refuge's best medic, told her to bring her entire team, pushing those commands into her mind. The girl would have the best care he could give her.

"He tortured her." In all the ways a male could torture a female. "Before he sent her to us."

"Because of me." Dita made a hurting sound. "He attacked them, tortured her because of me."

"Because of us." He had caused his female pain. If he had allowed her to kill all three of the clones, a caravan of innocents wouldn't have been slaughtered. "I'm sorry, little one."

"Let me go." She wiggled.

"Never." Kralj held onto her.

Wings flapped. Orol came into sight, the young female cradled in his arms. Her face was a bloody mess, her flight suit ripped. Crimson coated the inside of her thighs.

"I will kill him." Dita shook with fury.

She would have to wait until the clone returned to the Refuge to have her vengeance. Kralj wouldn't allow her to rush into a dangerous situation.

Orol landed. "She needs a medic, sir."

"They will arrive soon." Kralj brought his little assassin closer to her friend.

"Dita," the young female whispered, her lips dry and cracked.

"You're safe, Azalea." Dita carefully touched her battered hand. All of her fingers had been broken. "We've got you."

"The others." Blood glistened on the young female's lips, her wounds reopening. "He said. If you. If you go to him. They'll. They'll."

"They'll live." Kralj expressed her thoughts.

"Sari—" Azalea breathed heavily.

"Don't worry about Sari." Dita stopped her from speaking. "You did your part. You gave me the message. I'll do the rest."

_They'd_ do the rest, he silently corrected. She was taking no action without him.

The team of medics surrounded them. They scanned Azalea with handhelds.

Their thoughts told Kralj he and his little assassin were in the way. "Little one."

Dita glanced at him and then at the medics. Her eyes widened.

She must not have noticed their arrival. That was how upset his normally hyperaware female was. Kralj folded his body around her smaller frame, adding an extra layer of protection.

It wasn't necessary. He sensed everything around them. But it was an action he could take, his mate's grief, outrage, pain gnawing at him.

"You're a brave, strong girl, Azalea." Dita returned her attention to her little friend. "I'm very proud of you." She forced a smile. "I want you to focus on getting better. These nice beings are going to help you with that."

"Okay." The girl's eyelids already lowered.

Kralj nodded at the lead medic. Her team transferred Azalea from Orol's arms to a floating support and they whisked her away.

Dita lunged forward as though seeking to follow them.

Kralj maintained his grip on her. "They're the best medics in the settlement. Allow them to do their job."

"They'll do their job while I do mine." She smacked his arms. "You can release me now."

No, he couldn't. _Take care of the settlement._ Kralj told Orol. _Don't disturb us unless it is lifespan-threatening._ Dita was his priority at the moment.

"Did you hear me?" She twisted in his arms.

"I heard you." He heard every word she uttered, every breath she took. "If I release you now, you'll rush into that trap the clone has set for you." His lips twisted. "I won't allow that. There's nothing you can do for them."

"I could save them. Sari—"

"Sari is dead." He had to be cruel, had to tell her the truth. "They're all dead. The only reason Azalea remains alive is because Todt-933 needed her to relay his message. You know that."

"No, I don't _know_ that." Dita glared at him. "If there's a chance I can save them—"

"There isn't a chance you can save them." Kralj walked with her, heading toward the beverage outlet, their home. He'd restrict her to their chambers until she started thinking with her brain, not her heart. "They're dead."

He'd repeat that fact again and again, if necessary, forcing her to accept it. She'd hate him but he would gladly bear the brunt of her anger if the venting made her feel better, if it eased her guilt, her pain.

He would keep her safe.

"They allowed Azalea to live." His stubborn female tried again. "Sari—"

"Sari is dead." It was an effort to keep his voice calm. "She was originally chosen to bring Todt-933's message to you. Sari convinced them to send Azalea in her place."

"She vowed to protect Azalea." Dita quietly admitted.

"Sari told the girl to inform you her debt to the universe has been repaid." He'd plucked that information from Azalea's thoughts. "Your friend smiled as she said that."

His little assassin's reply was eclipsed by a howl of agony, of outrage. The sound originated from the medic bay in the center of the settlement.

Hulagu had discovered his gerel's state. Kralj felt the young Chamele's emotions as though they were his own.

He wouldn't experience that same sense of helplessness, those same regrets. He'd keep his little assassin safe.

"Sari is my friend." The grief in Dita's voice ripped at him. "A normal friend, not merely someone I trained alongside, but someone who cared for me and I cared for her. Do you know how rare that is?"

"Yes." He knew because he only had one friend—her.

"She can't be dead." Dita remained in denial.

"She's dead."

"Stop saying that." She parted his coat and pressed her face against his chest, as though she was seeking to physically hide from the truth. "I can't bear it. It hurts too much."

She silently cried, vibrating against him, wetting his skin with her tears. Kralj coiled a thick, impenetrable shadow tightly around them, cloaking her from curious gazes.

His little assassin wouldn't want anyone to see her break down, to view her while she was vulnerable. He'd allow her to grieve in private.

Kralj carried her through the beverage outlet's public chambers, into their personal space, set her on the sleeping support, and folded his fully clothed body around hers. She burrowed into his form. That she reached for him for solace touched his monstrous heart.

Kralj petted her hair, her shoulders, her back, trying to comfort her, not knowing what to say, what else to do. He'd never felt as powerless as he did right now.

His female, his mate hurt and he couldn't help her.

Dita's trembling eased more and more. "I'm going to kill him." Her voice was muffled. "That was my mission. I should have completed it immediately and then this wouldn't have happened."

"He'll return to the Refuge. You can kill him then." Kralj would ensure she wasn't harmed while she completed her mission.

"If I wait, he'll kill more innocent beings." She lifted her head. Red rimmed her blue eyes.

Kralj wanted to kill the clone for her, erase her pain in any way he could. "If you walk into his trap, he will definitely kill more innocent beings. You'll die and then there will be no one left to stop him."

"You wouldn't stop him?"

If the clone touched Dita, he was dead. Kralj would kill him in the most painful way possible, boiling him from the inside out.

"You wouldn't stop him." She answered her own question. "Because he hasn't broken one of your precious rules." Her voice was bitter. "That's all you care about—the Refuge and your rules."

"I care about more than that." He cared about her, desperately, more than the other two things combined. "But I know the limitations to my power. I can't protect the entire planet."

"You could protect some beings from Todt-933." She grasped the lapels of his coat. "Hunt with me, Kralj. We'll track him down and kill him."

That offer was tempting but also irresponsible. "Doing that would put all of the residents of the Refuge at risk."

And it would put anyone they came into contract at risk. If any being tried to harm Dita, he wouldn't be able to control his powers. He'd kill everyone.

"Sometimes I hate that you're so honorable." She sagged against him.

"Sometimes I hate that about you too." He brushed an errant curl away from her face. "Waiting is the right decision, little one."

"It won't be the right decision for the beings he kills." She frowned, her bottom lip curling. "Let me go, handsome. I'll return to you...if I can. I promise."

She would return to him...if she could. That offer wasn't good enough. She might not survive her mission and he couldn't bear that thought.

Her death would break him, would erase the last smidgeons of humanity from his monstrous soul. He would start killing and never stop.

"You're not going anywhere." Kralj circled her wrists with his fingers, determined to hold onto her, to ensure she never left him, never placed herself in danger. "Resign yourself to that fate."

"I refuse to do that." His female was delightfully honest and frustratingly stubborn. "But there's no need to restrain me. I won't hunt him this planet rotation."

Kralj relaxed, trusting her to keep her vow. Dita was an intelligent being. Once her emotions cooled, she would realize waiting was the logical plan.

Her friend was dead. There was nothing she could do to change that fact.

Kralj pulled off her boots. "Remove your garments." They wouldn't be leaving the chambers again that planet rotation.

Dita discarded her body covering. "I'm not in the mood for..." She waved at his groin.

"I realize that." He stripped quickly. His beast, his monster, all parts of him wanted her. His cock was hard, but he'd control himself. Sexual release wasn't what his little assassin needed from him right now. "I want to hold you without a dagger hilt digging into my stomach."

She gave him a shadow of a smile. "Oh."

"Yes, oh." Kralj drew her to him, tucking her into his larger form. "Azalea will survive." He gave her an update, snatched from the attending medics' thoughts.

As he'd hoped, Dita's attention turned to the girl, a being they _could_ help. His little assassin asked questions. He shared the information he knew.

Then he listened as Dita talked, relaying every moment she'd shared with the girl, with Sari. That seemed to comfort her, the talking.

It wouldn't be the last time his mate grieved. She shared his nanohumanics, would live for an almost endless lifespan. The humans, humanoids she befriended would eventually leave the Refuge, some voluntarily, some permanently.

Kralj couldn't, wouldn't stop her from caring for those beings. Her big heart and her concern for others made her who she was.

But he _could_ hold her when those relationships ended. He could listen. He could stroke her hair and rub away the tear tracks on her face.

Even a monster like him could do that.

Chapter Sixteen

Dita feigned sleep, waiting for Kralj to be called away, as he often was. Some of the potentially deadly situations in the Refuge required his physical presence. She usually joined him, standing by his side as the issue was resolved.

This planet rotation, when the silent communication finally came, she remained still, keeping her breathing level. Although she was tempted, she didn't open her eyes as he pressed his lips against her forehead. She didn't reach for him as he rolled off the sleeping support, taking his hard body, his entrancing heat away from her.

The doors closed behind him. Dita quietly dressed, verified her weapons were in place, slipped out of their chambers, hoping she'd return soon, see Kralj, the male she loved again.

He'd reprimand her, give her the spanking of her lifespan, and she wouldn't protest because she would deserve it. She wasn't a fool. Todt-933 _had_ set a trap for her.

But Dita was compelled to do this, to take the risk. If Sari was alive, she had to rescue her. That was what a good friend would do. If Sari was dead, she needed to confirm that, see the body. Not knowing her friend's fate would drive her insane.

The corridors were empty. Dita exited the structure through a back door. Dare, the Dracheon male standing guard, was arguing with an intoxicated male. It was easy to slip by him.

She hastened forward. The sun was breaking over the wall, painting the sky delicate pastel colors. Merchants were setting up their tents, displaying their goods, murmuring sleepy greetings to each other. Dita dashed from shadow to shadow, every length of darkness reminding her of Kralj.

_I could search for the rest of eternity and never replace you._ That wasn't a declaration of love but it might be as close as he'd ever get to one. Her powerful male saw her as a unique being, special, one of a kind.

Dita had believed being normal would make beings care for her, bring her peace. She'd been wrong. The way Kralj looked at her, his eyes glowing, his grim face soft, communicated that. He allowed her to embrace her individuality.

Balvan guarded the gate. She paused, lingering out of view. He glanced upward. Dita ran, zigzagging between the display of corpses. She'd hunted many of those targets with Kralj, the two of them playing in the settlement they protected.

Once out of Balvan's line of sight, she ran to the collection of ships parked in the designated stretch of flattened rocks. It was a simple feat to steal a skimmer, a small yet fast ship. It had been covered with a thin layer of sand, indicating it had been ground-bound for many planet rotations. The beings lingering in that section were few. There were newer vessels to tempt thieves.

The guard, a huge bald-headed male, didn't look up from his private viewscreen when she started the engines, the floor tiles vibrating under her booted feet. No alarms were sounded. No one chased her.

Dita flew the ship toward the nearest beverage outlet, crafting plans in her mind. A few domiciles had been erected around the replenishing source. The inhabitants residing there serviced the travelers.

She guided her ship around the structures, circling the beverage outlet. The clone and his cronies would expect her to travel from the Refuge. She would attempt to surprise them and enter from the opposite direction.

Dita parked the skimmer out of human earshot range of the domiciles. She ran the rest of the way, her tread light, soundless, her senses on high alert. Smoke billowed from the structures. Her nose twitched. The scent of blood, of death clung to the air.

The first body she spotted was a female, a baby in her arms. She'd been ravished and then sliced to pieces or sliced to pieces and then ravished. It was difficult to determine which order. Even the baby had been abused, the head several strides away from the body.

Kralj called himself a monster but the males who did this were truly horrifying. They were cold, callous creatures with no hearts, their actions sickening Dita.

The next corpse was a child, a little boy with the same coloring as the female. He lay face down in the sand, multiple projectiles in his back, his gray flight suit torn.

The closer she trekked to the center, the more bodies she found. All were long dead, the blood dry and cracked on their skin, the insects feasting on them, a rare source of moisture in the parched terrain.

Sari could still be alive, she told herself. The chances of that were slim but Todt-933 knew the importance of the female to her. He'd talked with Yorick, Sari's handler, would have heard how Dita had defended her. The clone could have taken her hostage, thinking to use her as a possible bargaining lever.

Dita ran. Finding cover was no longer an issue. Any traveler venturing close to the beverage outlet had been attacked, killed, their bodies, ships, possessions scattered over the sands.

The clone's gang were vicious but not very bright. They should have kept the space clear, made it easier to monitor. It wouldn't have stopped her but it would have slowed her progress. And they might have seen her.

She saw them. A human male stood between two huge white boulders. Todt-933 must have augmented his gang's numbers with mercenaries. Dita pressed her back against a large container, hiding from his view.

That precaution wasn't necessary. The male gazed down at a private viewscreen, oblivious to her presence, his stance relaxed, his long gun slung over his right shoulder.

She extracted one of her favorite daggers, crept toward him, moving slowly, slowly, slowly. He gave no indication he sensed her approach, the male chuckling at something he viewed. She reached around him and sliced his throat, cutting deep.

Blood spurted. He gurgled, fell to the sand, his legs kicking. She wiped her blade on his chest covering. There were warriors positioned to the left and right of him, out of sight but heard.

Dita resisted the urge to kill them. Saving Sari was her priority. She continued toward the beverage outlet.

Domiciles were positioned around that structure. A smaller, inner circle of warriors guarded them. These males were more alert, their guns in their hands.

They were still no match for her, a trained assassin. She threw a dagger and ran. The blade zinged through the air. The male she'd targeted didn't have time to interpret what his eyes were seeing. The dagger pieced his throat, silencing him.

Another male turned, raised his gun. She flung a second dagger, rolled, yanked the first blade out of flesh. The second throw was another direct hit.

Her sense of satisfaction faded as she glanced at the beverage outlet.

Bodies were strapped to the pillars decorating the front façade. The males must have used them for target practice. Daggers, battle-axes, other weapons stuck out of their flesh, their garments shredded, fluttering in the breeze. Blood stained the strips of metal around their necks, wrists, ankles. Their eyes had been gouged, empty sockets where they'd once been.

One of the bodies belonged to Zeb, the leader of the settlers. She didn't recognize two of the females. The third female's identity froze her to the bone.

Sari's neck had been pinned to the pillar with the dagger she'd given her. Dita grimaced. The bastards had used her gift to torment her friend, to kill her.

Sari was dead. She was too late to save her.

The female's debt to the universe had been repaid.

That was the message Sari had relayed through Azalea and Kralj. Her friend had believed her destiny was to protect the girl, to save an innocent to offset the one she'd inadvertently killed.

She'd done that, settling her outstanding balance with pain, with torture, with death.

A scream crawled up Dita's throat. She clamped her lips together, containing the sound.

She was an assassin, had killed thousands of beings, seen many more die, but this was different. This was a friend, a rarity in her solitary world. She cared for Sari.

And she was to blame for her death. Her friend had died because Dita hadn't completed the assignment she'd been given. If she'd done her damn job, Sari would still be alive.

Dita sank to her knees, her shoulders slumping, the sand yielding under her weight.

She'd failed her friend, failed Azalea, failed everyone in the caravan.

Kralj would tell her to return to the settlement. He'd bark that order in his deep, dominant tone, sling her over his shoulder and smack her ass if she refused to listen.

Sari had been killed. There were no innocents to rescue. Todt-933 and his males had slain them all. Dita couldn't change that.

But she _could_ change the future.

Because the killing wouldn't end. Every caravan approaching the beverage outlet would be attacked. Other beings' friends would die. Other young females would be abused.

She had to stay, had to complete her assignment, end this.

Dita studied the terrain. Todt-933 would have males positioned inside the structure. There were more males guarding the far perimeter. She hadn't killed them, not wanting to alarm the clone, thinking there were hostages to save.

When the males sounded the alarm, which they eventually would, she'd be pinned between the two groups of killers.

She'd die.

Assassins didn't live long lifespans. She knew that. Dita rested her fingers on the battle-axe Kralj had given her. She had thought she'd have no regrets when the end came.

She'd been wrong. She regretted that she hadn't told Kralj she loved him. She regretted that she'd never see his handsome face again, never touch him, never hear his voice.

But her honor wouldn't allow her to walk away from her responsibilities. Dita couldn't be selfish, couldn't save herself at the expense of others. She'd vowed to protect the females of Carinae E and that was what she'd do.

Clearing the inner circle would increase her odds of success. Dita sprinted from domicile to domicile, slitting throats, throwing daggers.

She killed every male she spotted, retrieving her weapons from each target's corpse. Every male whose life she ended was a male who couldn't hurt another being.

She felt no regrets, not about their deaths. Her gaze drifted once more to Sari's corpse. She had other sources of guilt.

Once the inner circle was clear, Dita studied the beverage outlet. It wasn't as secure as the structure she'd shared with Kralj. Large viewing portholes made the inhabitants vulnerable, the clear substance penetrable by projectiles.

Dita ran, jumped, climbed up the side of the structure, perched on the roof, crouching. She switched her daggers for guns. Their weight in her hands felt right.

The males would protect their leader, positioning Todt-933 at the back of the beverage outlet. She ran across the roof, swung over the edge, blasted a round of projectiles through that porthole.

Males shouted. By the time they returned fire, she had pulled herself upward and had sprinted to the other side of the roof, replicating the assault through another porthole. The fools tried to shoot upward. The structure was designed for the desert, insulated against the hot sun. There was no breaching the roof.

She ran, swung over the edge, shot, pulled herself up, ran again, bombarding them from all portholes, all sides. The males tried to predict her movements and failed. The trainers at the Guild had taught her that a predictable assassin was a dead assassin.

The males eventually gave up on that and blasted every porthole with projectiles. One caught her in the left biceps. Pain shot up her arm. She gritted her teeth, swung onto the roof.

Warmth dripped over her fingers. Dita pushed the agony away. If she survived this assignment, she'd bind her wound. Until then, she had a task to complete.

The males continued to shoot out the portholes, that entry point temporarily barred to her. She traded her guns for a long gun and used the break to pick off males on the ground. Her vantage point put them at an extreme disadvantage. As they hurried to defend their leader, she shot them methodically, without emotion.

The projectile fire originating from the beverage outlet stopped. She resumed her portholes assault. There weren't enough males remaining alive to cover all of them.

One by one, she eliminated them until no one returned fire.

Had she killed Todt-933? She looked around her. Warriors circled the beverage outlet, hiding behind structures. They talked on their private viewscreens to someone, likely their boss.

Todt-933 must still be alive, holed up in the beverage outlet, protected from her assaults. Shooting through the portholes wouldn't accomplish anything other than wasting her limited stash of projectiles.

She had to switch tactics.

"Are you hiding from me, Todt-933?" Dita yelled loud enough for both him and the males surrounding her to hear. "Are you scared of one little female?"

"Fuck you," the male hollered back.

"You couldn't fuck me." Dita laughed. "Todt-931 might have been able to. Maybe Todt-932. But you?" She snorted. "Not a chance, you short-haired excuse of a male. That would require facing me, a tiny female, and we all know you don't the courage to do that."

The males positioned around the beverage outlet frowned. A couple of them touched their longer locks. Her guess must have been correct. The length of a male's hair signaled their ability to kill, to lead.

"You're on the roof. You'll shoot me as soon as I exit," Todt-933 whined.

His minions looked at each other. Their opinion of the leader had dropped even lower.

"I won't shoot you. I give you my word." She holstered her guns. "I'll use daggers only." She chose her two favorite blades. "Unless you're scared of those too."

"Fuck you." The male had a limited vocabulary.

"I'll assume that is a 'yes.'" She pointed one of her daggers at the closest male, a warrior with hair down to his shoulders. "What about you? Do you have the balls to lead this gang? If so, show us." Dita tilted her head at the others. "Fight me, hand-to-hand combat, no guns, no explosives, nothing but daggers."

"Fuck yeah." The big brute tossed his guns to the side.

Dita's lips twitched. He wasn't very intelligent.

"Back down, Qifu." Todt-933 barreled through the front doors. "I'm the leader of this gang." His purple face dripped with sweat, his eyes wild. "I'll fight her."

"You can fight me, Qifu, after Todt-933 begs me for mercy." She'd die eventually. She couldn't kill them all, even if she fought them one at a time. But she would complete her assignment. Todt-933, her last target, would be dead.

"You'll be the one begging for mercy." Todt-933 extracted a huge blade. He must have believed bigger was better.

It wasn't. Dita somersaulted off the roof and landed on her feet, planting her boots on the sand. "Does that weapon make you feel like a tough warrior?"

She circled the clone. Her muscles ached. Her arms and legs were tired from the previous assaults. Blood coated her fingers.

"You're not very tough." She'd kill Todt-933 slowly, torture him emotionally and physically. "That's why Todt-932 sent you away. He knew you'd be useless during the coup, get in his way and fuck everything up."

"Shut up." Todt-933 ran at her, his big knife raised.

Dita threw her right dagger without thinking, a response honed from solar cycles of killing. It embedded with a twang in the clone's left eye socket, popping his eyeball, piercing his brain.

Todt-933's scream was high-pitched. He toppled backward, his body gyrating.

"Shit." She had killed him too quickly, hadn't inflicted enough pain on him. Dita walked to the clone, yanked her dagger from his eye socket, turned to face Qifu.

The big male stared at her with his mouth hanging open.

"Your turn." Dita smiled at him. "Or can you operate without a master giving you orders?"

Todt-933 was ruled by emotion. Qifu wasn't. Her taunt didn't draw any response, the male's eyes flat. She suspected he was already in the zone, the mental place experienced warriors went during a battle.

The male drew his weapons. The blades were long, thin, wicked looking.

They walked round and round, orbiting each other like planets around a star, both of them looking for weaknesses in the other. She tested him with a couple jabs.

He countered, his reflexes surprisingly fast. One of his blades grazed her shoulder, cutting though her body covering, shaving a layer of skin. She hissed at the pain.

The brute grinned. "I've killed many like—"

She released both of her daggers. Both lodged in his throat, the male making no attempt to dodge them. His eyes widened as he dropped to the sand. The giant couldn't fight and talk at the same time.

"You've never seen any being like me." Dita retrieved her daggers and turned.

Three very large, very angry males faced her, swords in their hands. They'd attack her together, learning from their predecessors' pride-induced mistakes.

If they weren't successful, the other males would be. The crowd behind them were armed with daggers, guns, weapons of all shapes and sizes.

There was no chance of survival. She was going to die.

So be it.

Dita sheathed her daggers, grasped her battle-axe, Kralj's gift to her, feeling the caring engraved in the hilt. "Who is next?" She grinned.

The three males rushed toward her. She ran, meeting them midway, spinning, slashing, ducking, blocking, intent on making her death as glorious as possible.

Chapter Seventeen

Kralj stood at the top of his wall and scowled at the sand dunes, expecting to see curly brown hair, a pointed chin, goofy-looking goggles concealing eyes as blue as the sky.

He wouldn't spot her. His damn female was hunting another prey.

Without him.

Putting herself in danger, running into a trap, his impetuous fool.

When he'd returned to their chambers, had seen the empty sleeping support, he had known where she'd gone. His little assassin was chasing her last target, seeking vengeance on the male who'd hurt one of her friends, had likely ended the life of another.

Her sense of responsibility would demand she do that. Kralj understood that, understood her. But she might not survive that course of action

Although she was highly skilled, one of the best warriors he'd ever had the privilege to hunt with, she was merely one assassin, one agonizingly killable human.

She was outside his protection, outnumbered and alone. Her enemies could hurt her, end her life.

His beast snarled, raking his already hurting heart with its claws. His monstrous humanoid side pushed at its restraints. His shadow stretched across his entire territory, blocking the light, casting the settlement into a darkness Kralj felt to his soul.

He gripped the parapet, needing to hold onto something, anything. The stone crumbled under his fingers. Losing her would accomplish something the Humanoid Alliance, with all their solar cycles of torture, could never do.

It would break him.

He loved her. More than life. Kralj turned and gazed into the settlement, at the pathways, the rooftops, the residents. He loved her more than the Refuge. More than the rules he'd erected to protect beings, to protect himself.

He hadn't ventured outside his terrain since he'd had the settlement built, had never left the residents undefended, hadn't turned his back on the vow he'd given them.

Follow the rules and he'd safeguard them. That's what he'd promised. They wouldn't die within his walls.

If he chased Dita, he'd break that vow. The Refuge would be left unmonitored. The residents might take that as license to kill. Outsiders might attack.

At sunrise, a Humanoid Alliance Commander and five of his males had demanded entry. Kralj had refused that request. They hadn't accepted his ruling and planned to take the settlement by force, their thoughts centered around vengeance.

That attack wouldn't happen this planet rotation. More Humanoid Alliance exiles were scheduled to arrive. The Commander hoped to add them to his forces.

Bu that didn't mean others wouldn't take action.

Kralj no longer cared. Vows and honor and rules meant nothing without the female he loved, without his mate, the missing piece of himself.

He descended, moving at human speed toward the settlement's ground level.

_Orol._ Kralj touched his second-in-command's mind. _I'm leaving the Refuge. You're in charge._

_What?_ The winged male's thoughts raced. _He never leaves the Refuge. This must have something to do with Dita. I haven't seen her this planet rotation and—_

_It has everything to do with Dita. She requires my assistance._ She would also receive a heavy hand applied to her backside. Kralj stomped toward the front gates. _Don't tell anyone I'm gone. I'll be back as soon as possible._

Preferably he'd return before all of the residents killed each other.

He exited the gates. _No one gets in or out._ He gave that order to Balvan.

The great green gatekeeper nodded.

Kralj inhaled deeply, sucking in Dita's distinctive scent. She'd exited that way also. He tracked her route around the rotting corpses. His intelligent female knew how to shake the gazes watching her. She easily disappeared into nothing.

The trail ended at the docking area. Kralj stopped following her there. He knew where Dita was heading and he didn't require transportation.

He would arrive there faster on foot. Kralj ran, building momentum, his velocity inhumanly fast and then catapulted himself forward with the power of his mind.

His beast yelped with glee. Within the settlement, it had been restricted by domiciles and other obstacles. In the desert, there was nothing blocking it. His body was a blur moving in a straight line toward the beverage outlet, toward Dita.

Kralj smelled death before he saw it, the sticky sweet aroma of spilled blood flavoring the air. It excited his beast, enraged his monster, filled him with concern. He couldn't sense Dita, couldn't determine if she was hurt or worse. Her unique brain prevented that.

Only males were detected within his range. He froze them all, not allowing them to move, to possibly harm his female.

Slowing his speed, he sniffed the air, searching for her scent. He picked up a trace of it by a domicile. A male lay dead in the sand, his throat slit. That was his little assassin's work.

He tracked her. She'd left a trail of corpses in her wake. That pleased his dark soul. She was strong, clever, fearless.

Kralj approached a group of males and his muscles pulled tight, flexing to the point of pain. The warriors were gathered in a circle, leaning forward, weapons in their hands, blades and clubs raised, about to strike.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He knew who was at the center. Kralj rushed toward them, tossing the males to the left and to the right, frantic to find her.

She lay on her back, covered in blood, her beautiful face sliced, her eyes wide, her chest rising and falling. She breathed.

"Little one." He dropped to his knees, bending over her, shaking with relief.

His little assassin lived.

Barely.

A dagger was lodged deep in her chest, exactly where her heart was. Crimson dripped from the corners of her mouth. Both of her legs were badly broken, the bones jutting through her skin, through her torn body covering.

The pain she must be enduring, the agony...

Kralj couldn't contain his anguish. He tilted back his head and howled, raw, unfettered energy blasting from him, flattening everything within his territory. Sand swept away, a crater forming around them. Domiciles collapsed. The force pressed down on the nearby males, crunching spines, popping veins until all that was left of them were puddles of red.

It wasn't enough, not nearly enough.

Dita, the female he loved, the female he'd failed to protect, stared up at him. She struggled to live, to breathe.

"Dita." His voice cracked.

Her injuries didn't stop his stubborn assassin from raising her hand. She placed her palm on his scarred cheek. "Love." Her eyes glowed.

She loved him. Pain bombarded her yet she thought only of him, comforting him, caring for him. He didn't deserve that, didn't deserve her.

She stroked his skin. "Glad. Here." She glanced down at the dagger. "Dying."

"No, you're not." Kralj covered her lips with his, his kiss hard and silencing. "I won't allow you to die. Not now. Not ever."

The solution was inside him. His blood should seal her wounds, should give her his ability to heal quickly, completely.

It might also give her all of his powers. It could turn her into a monster like him, a being able to kill with a mere thought. She could be privy to everyone else's musings.

He swore he'd never bring another being like him into the universe.

But that was before he'd met Dita, his daring, stunning, loving assassin. He loved her, would break all of his rules to save her life.

Kralj pushed back the sleeve of his coat, raised his wrist to his mouth and tore into his flesh with his fangs. Agony radiated from the wound. Blood gushed.

He pressed his wrist to Dita's lips. "Drink."

Her gaze flicked upward. There were questions in her eyes.

She might have doubts but he didn't. "Do it." He shook her.

Dita fastened her lips over his self-inflicted wound and sucked, tugging at his flesh. The pain was exquisite, her mouth on him thrilling.

She gagged, her chest heaving. His little assassin didn't have his thirst for blood.

"Swallow, little one." Kralj rubbed her throat with his free hand. "Force it down. Do this for me." He wouldn't survive without her.

Dita complied, her beautiful face dark with determination.

A heartbeat later, she convulsed, her spine bowing. Her body was trying to fight the primitive blood transfusion. He stroked her neck, murmuring comforting words while his fearless female sucked on his wrist.

Her weakened form couldn't defend itself against the invasion. The tremors eased. The cuts on her face healed. Dita's eyes lost the sheen of impending death. She grew stronger. Her legs straightened, the nanohumanics in his blood setting her broken bones.

As she drank from him, Kralj laved her face, neck, and other exposed skin with his tongue, cleaning her, savoring her taste, speeding her recovery even more. She was his to care for and he vowed to do a better job of that in the future. No one would ever harm her again.

Kralj grew lightheaded from the blood loss. "You've had enough." He pulled his wrist away from her. She resisted, was no match for his strength. He licked the wound closed and then swiped his tongue over her lips, tasting himself.

"I love you." Her voice was husky. "I loved you from the first moment we met but I didn't recognize the emotion. I've never felt it for anyone else."

"I've never felt that emotion for anyone else either." Kralj confessed. He petted her hair, reassuring himself that she lived. He hadn't lost her. "Did I change you?"

Had he cursed her, caused her to become a monster like him? He probed with his mind. The connection between them had tightened but he still couldn't penetrate the barrier around her brain, couldn't read her thoughts, couldn't determine if she'd gained deadly new powers.

"Yes, you've changed me." Dita's words were barely audible yet he felt them deep down in his heart.

He'd changed her, made her like him. "I'm sorry." He bent over her, pressed his lips to her forehead. "I didn't want to convey my powers to you but I had to save you. I had—"

"I don't have your powers." She placed her fingers over his mouth, stopping his apology. "I feel unusually strong. I'm healing quickly." She touched a gash on her chin. "You've changed me in many other ways also. But I can't read thoughts. I can't control beings or objects or the air around us, not like you can."

"Have you tried?" He had to be sure.

Dita's lips flattened into a thin white line. Her forehead furrowed. She looked adorably intense.

Nothing happened. Not one grain of sand moved.

"Nope. I have no new powers." She relaxed once more. "They would have come in handy earlier. I killed my target easily, too easily. Todt-933 was dead within moments." Her lips twisted. "But I couldn't kill all of his warriors. There were too many of them. I needed help." Her gaze met his. "I needed you."

She needed him. Kralj's chest warmed. "Todt-933 had set a trap for you." He'd been correct about that.

"He baited that trap with my friend." A tear trickled down her right cheek, his female's grief making his soul ache. "When I arrived, Sari had been dead for a long time."

Kralj had suspected that.

"I failed her." Dita's gaze lowered. "If I had—"

"You can't change the past, little one." He told her the same thing she'd once told him. "You almost didn't survive that lesson." Kralj touched the hilt of the dagger in her chest. "Next time, you'll listen to me."

Dita blinked once, twice, her long dark eyelashes fluttering. "I always listen to you."

"Next time, you'll obey me," he amended.

"Will there be a next time?" She curled her fingers over his, both of them holding the dagger's hilt. "I can't walk around with a blade in my heart."

"We have to remove it." He dreaded causing his female more pain but this had to be done. "You should heal instantly."

Logic told him that _should_ happen. His nanohumanics had healed the rest of her. The blood transfusion should allow them to live inside her forever, replicating, growing stronger.

But that was a guess. Kralj had never fed another being his blood. He didn't know what would occur.

His uncertainty must have shown in his eyes.

"If I don't heal, don't blame yourself." Dita's voice was soft with understanding. "You did your best, gave me more moments of living, another chance to see your handsome face, to hear your voice, to touch you. When I was fighting, I only had one regret—that I had never told you I loved you. You gave me that gift."

"You won't die." He'd pour the last drop of his blood into her, drain himself dry before he allowed that to happen.

"Kralj—"

"You _will_ survive this." He tightened his grip on the dagger's hilt. "Look at me, little one."

Her gaze locked with his.

He pulled. A thousand points of light exploded in Dita's blue eyes. Her spine straightened. Her scream bounced off the walls of the crater, the sound tearing him emotionally to strips.

"It's done." Kralj licked her blood off the blade. The taste of her coated his tongue. He flung the dagger away from him, drew her onto his lap, and wrapped his body around hers, trying to give her his strength. "You're all right." He said that for her and for himself.

Dita clutched his arms, her tiny form shuddering, her breathing ragged, painful to hear yet also reassuring. His little female lived. She had survived her solo adventure.

It would be her last one. He would never let her out of his sight again. Where she went, he went. She was too valuable to him, too much his.

Kralj held her while she healed. Dita maintained his gaze, never looking away. It was as though she drew power from her connection with him.

"Let's not do that again." Her voice was hoarse. "I can think of much more pleasurable ways to pass the time."

Only his female would joke about almost dying.

"No one will ever harm you again." Kralj no longer regretted having his powers. He'd need all of them to protect his reckless female.

"Ahhh..." Her eyes sparkled. "That must mean I'm not being reprimanded for this."

"No one _other than me_ will ever harm you." He forced himself to be stern. "You're being reprimanded. Harshly. When we return home, I'm applying my right hand to your backside. You won't be able to sit down for ten planet rotations."

"Oh." Her sigh contained more contentment than distress. "We have to retrieve the battle-axe you gave me first. I left it in a bearded male's gut."

"I'll have a new battle-axe crafted for you." He'd replace all of her weapons. His little assassin would have the best of everything.

"There's no rush to replace it." Dita's lips quirked upward. "I never thought I'd say this but I've killed enough beings for one planet rotation."

He had killed enough beings also. Kralj's gaze drifted to the pools of darkness next to them. They were all that was left of the males who'd attacked her. "I saw some of your handiwork. My beast was pleased."

"Your beast would have enjoyed itself." Her grin stretched from ear to ear. "I had fun...up to a point." Her smile dimmed. "I would have had more fun if you'd been by my side." She wiggled. "I like hunting with you."

He liked hunting with her also. Kralj reclined on the sand. He turned her to face him, layering her body over his.

She sighed with happiness, parted his coat and snuggled against his bare chest, her breath caressing his skin. He stroked her curls, her back.

There were rips in the back of her body covering, those wounds thankfully healed. She'd been beaten and battered yet she hadn't lost her resilience, her sense of humor.

"I don't merely care for you, little one." He told her softly. "I love you. More than my rules, more than the Refuge, more than anything in this universe."

"You left the Refuge." She lifted her head, her eyes widening. "You never leave it."

"For you, I would always leave it." He played with one of her curls, pulling on it, watching it spring back in place. "We can rebuild the settlement. There's no replacing you."

"That's because I'm unique. I'm not a normal female." Judging by her happy expression, that no longer bothered her.

"Nothing about you is normal." He drifted one of his fingers over her upturned nose. "That includes the love I feel for you. There will never be a male who loves his female as much as I love you. My power is yours to wield. My monstrous heart and my beastly soul belong to you."

"I adore your monstrous heart and your beastly soul." Dita nipped at his fingertip. "I love all of you, the good, the deadly, the civilized, the savage."

Kralj's beast purred with happiness, rolling over on its back. Her words were an emotional belly rub, taming the primitive parts of him.

Dita's inner musings, however, must have been less peaceful. Her head tilted to the right.

Kralj silently groaned. She often did that before suggesting a reckless, certain-to-be-deadly course of action.

She'd involve him in that wild plan because he wasn't leaving her side. That was the price of loving her, a fee he'd happily pay over and over again.

"You said we could rebuild the settlement." She frowned. " _Will_ we have to do that?"

"It's a possibility." Kralj shrugged, trying not to think about that. "The Refuge is outside my range." He couldn't monitor it from here. It could be serene or in chaos. "I don't know its state."

"And that bothers you." Her eyes gleamed.

He said nothing because it _did_ bother him.

She kissed his chest. "Let's go home, handsome."

Home. He had a home and a mate who loved him. Kralj leapt to his feet, taking his little assassin with him.

He was the luckiest monster alive.

Chapter Eighteen

They didn't have to rebuild the Refuge.

Dita had seen the apprehension in Kralj's eyes as they'd approached its walls. But the settlement had been as calm as it could be.

The beings waiting to pass through its gates hadn't protested their temporary delay. Warriors hadn't attacked, seeking to topple the Refuge's Ruler. Not one resident had rebelled.

No one, other than his males, had realized Kralj had been gone.

That irked her proud male, a reaction Dita found amusing. "See? Nothing happened. You can leave the settlement."

"We're never leaving the Refuge again." Kralj scowled at her as he carried her into the medic bay. "There's no need."

"Because this is our home," she murmured.

"This is our home," he confirmed as they entered Azalea's private chamber.

The young female slept. A covering cloth was tucked around her slim form. She looked delicate, small, peaceful and Dita made no attempt to speak to her, to touch her.

Azalea's body and mind needed the rest to recover. Seeing her, confirming she lived was enough to calm Dita, to reassure her that Sari hadn't died in vain.

Hulagu sat by Azalea's side. "She's strong and survived. Thank the stars." His gaze didn't move from the young female's bruised face. "But I should have been with her. I should have put her first."

"You can't change the past." Kralj's tone was brusque. "Focus on the future."

"My future is with her. I'm never leaving her side." Hulagu's declaration held the strength of a vow. "I'll protect her with my life if I have to."

"If you stay within the Refuge, that sacrifice won't be necessary." Kralj's fingers splayed over Dita's ass. "Your gerel will have my protection also. No one would dare harm her."

Dita stared at him. Since the moment they had met, he'd been adamant about residents fending for themselves, about not involving himself in their business. As long as his rules were followed, their dealings were none of his concern, he'd told her.

Why was he extending his protection now to Azalea?

Kralj met her gaze and Dita read the answer in his eyes. He was doing this for her. She glowed, touched by his actions. Her male was breaking all of his rules to make her happy.

"I can protect my own gerel." Hulagu wasn't as appreciative of the gift.

"And I can protect my own mate." Kralj countered in a way that preserved the young warrior's pride. "Yet I've erected high walls around our domicile and have surrounded myself with the best warriors in the universe, warriors who will safeguard my mate as though she was their own."

She could also protect herself. Dita kept that insight to herself because Azalea couldn't do the same. Not yet.

"You don't have to make your decision now. Talk it over with your gerel." Kralj motioned toward the sleeping girl. "But know if you stay, I expect your loyalty. You will report to me, train intensely, follow my orders without question."

Hulagu turned his head. His brown eyes were tinged with red. Dita's heart twisted. The warrior had been crying.

"I would be part of your team?" he asked.

Kralj nodded.

"I will always place my gerel first, putting her above all others." The young warrior's chin lifted. "You are a skilled leader but she is the light to my darkness. I love her with everything I am and cannot live without her."

"I would never ask you to live without her." Kralj glanced at Dita. "A gerel, a mate is an extension of our own being. To be disloyal to her is to be disloyal to ourselves." He paused. "Consider the offer, warrior."

He hefted Dita over his right shoulder, turned and strode out of the medic bay.

"Thank you," she whispered against his back.

"He'll be a great warrior... some planet rotation in the far, _far_ future." Kralj's voice was gruff.

He carried her to their domicile. They strode through the doorway. Dita glanced around them. Patrons gambled, drank, fondled the breeding females. Everything was reassuringly the same.

"As there were no consequences to us leaving the Refuge." Dita watched Kralj's coat swirl around his big boots as he walked through the public chambers. "There's no need to reprimand me."

"There's a need, little one." Kralj patted her ass.

She frowned.

There was no reason for him to be gentle with her. She was completely healed. Energy zipped through her form, pulsed in her veins.

And, emotionally, she required more than a pat on the ass. She had lost a friend and had almost died. Dita craved a mind-cleansing, soul-purging rough fuck with her savage male.

She knew how to get one.

"If there had been ten fewer males, I think I could have defeated them." She deliberately taunted him with that boast. "At sunrise, I'll gather some of the best warriors in the universe and test my skills."

"There will be no testing of your skills." Kralj slapped her ass harder.

She felt the contact through her body covering. It was good but could be better. "It would be hand-to-hand combat only."

He kicked open the doors to their private chambers. "There will be no hand-to-hand combat." His palm connected solidly with her backside and she jerked, surprised and pleased by his reaction. "There will be no combat of any kind." He smacked her again, thrillingly hard.

She could take more than that. "But—"

"No." Kralj sat on the edge of the sleeping support, drew her over his knee, and cuffed her wiggling ass. "No." Smack. "No." Smack. "No." Smack. He slowed.

Dita didn't want the punishment to end. "But—"

"No." He spanked her again and again. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The burn spread over her body, lighting fires within her. Her pussy dripped. Her breasts ached.

Her dominant male was as turned on by the reprimand as she was. The bulge in his ass coverings pushed against her. His breathing was strained. She lifted into his hand, offering more of her to punish.

"You will _not_ take unnecessary risks with your life." His voice was terse with emotion. "I won't tolerate that."

He worried about her, cared about her. She heard that in his words.

"Yes, sir." Dita floated, her head fuzzy.

He spanked her once, twice, three more times, then rubbed her curves, dipping his fingers between her legs, heightening the pleasure, extending the pain. "Did I hurt you?"

"Not enough," she mumbled.

His chest shook. "You would test the patience of a rock." Kralj flipped her over, handling her as though she weighed nothing. "You're too reckless, little one." He stroked his thumbs over her cheeks. "Some planet rotation, you'll push yourself too far."

She gazed up at him, feeling the tenderness in his touch, seeing the love in his eyes. "And you'll be there to save me." Dita summoned a smile, her ass on fire. "Like you did this planet rotation." She cupped his cheek.

Kralj pressed his face into her palm. "I wasn't there soon enough." He removed her boots, pulled the tattered and stained body covering off her. "You were injured."

And her overly responsible male blamed himself for that.

He and Hulagu, his young protégé, were alike in many ways.

"I _was_ injured." She wouldn't insult Kralj's intelligence by claiming she hadn't been hurt. "But you healed all of my wounds and I survived."

"Hmmm..." He slid his hands over her neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, moving lower, inspecting every part of her, his perusal exciting her. She spread her legs and pushed her hips upward, silently asking for his fingers on her pussy.

Kralj's eyes glittered. He deliberately avoided that part of her.

She huffed with frustration. "It's a dangerous universe. I _will_ incur injuries again."

"No, you won't." His voice was firm with certainty. He wiggled her toes, one by one. "I'll ensure you're not harmed."

"You'll be the beast protecting me in my dreams." Dita twisted the words he'd once told her. "The comfort I feel in the dark, the warm breath wafting over the back of my neck telling me I'm never alone." She smiled at him. "You're a monster and you're mine."

"I'm yours." He turned her onto her stomach, glided his palms along her body. She twitched as he squeezed her burning ass. "And you're mine. You _will_ obey me."

"Or you'll ravish my mouth?" She kicked backward, wanting that punishment.

"I'll show you what I'll do." He picked her up, lifting her high in the air, and tossed her behind him.

Dita instinctively reacted to what her assassin mind perceived as an attack. She curled into a ball and tumbled onto the sleeping support, coming to a stop in a crouched position, her arms raised to defend herself.

Her heart pounded. Her body, already aroused by the spanking, pulsed even more.

Kralj stood. His lips twitched. "You can't defeat me, my little assassin." He shrugged out of his coat. The leather fell to the floor, revealing golden skin, delineated muscle, his pecs flat, his abs sculpted. The scars on his shoulder, his biceps, were proof of his power, his ability to survive, to conquer.

He was right. She'd never defeat him but she would spend all of her now long lifespan testing herself against him. That challenge thrilled her. "You'll be the first one to come."

"You'll come twice before I do." Kralj kicked off his boots. "But only because I allow that." He unfastened his ass coverings slowly, revealing more and more of his long, thick cock. "I control when you find release. Your orgasms belong to me."

"Do they?" She wet her bottom lip with her tongue, her need for him escalating.

His cock bobbed. "They do." He stripped faster. "Move over." Kralj pushed her to the far side of the sleeping support. The friction against her skin titillated her.

She was in a bad way.

And judging by his smug expression, Kralj knew it. He reclined, lying flat on his back.

Dita's blood raced. She'd ride him. He was giving her that control over him. She trembled with anticipation, with wanting, with a yearning impossible to deny, the pressure inside her building. "Sir?"

"Come here." Kralj patted his thighs.

"You don't have to issue that order twice." She straddled him, eager for the contact.

"If only that were true of all orders I give you." He grabbed her legs and pulled her snug against his cock, her pussy lips hugging his shaft.

She inhaled sharply, her form shaking with pleasure. He was warm and rigid and pressing against all the right places.

"Work me, little one." Kralj gripped her hips, coaxed her to move against him.

She undulated, slicking his cock with her juices, making him glisten. A drop of pre-cum already formed on his tip.

"If I work you, you'll come first." It was an empty warning. She was one stroke of a finger away from fulfillment.

"You're coming now." His eyes gleamed with erotic intent.

Dita froze in place, mentally bracing for his sensuous attack. She wouldn't help him win the challenge. "That's not happ—"

Kralj forced her to move, grinding her beleaguered ass against his unrelenting thighs and she gritted her teeth, unable to stop him, his strength far superior to hers.

Her hips were swiveled once, twice, the pain exquisite, intense. It was too much, too good, but she could resist it. She could—

He bucked upward.

Dita broke, splintering into pieces. She screamed her satisfaction, clutching his forearms, arching her back, her body gyrating in the air.

Bliss, hot, intense, and primal, pounded her, blasting her brain to dust, decimating the trials of the planet rotation, her grief, her anger, her regrets. All she knew was him, her male, his touch, his scent, his breathing.

Kralj cupped her breasts, kneading them, ruthlessly prolonging her pleasure until it was spent, until she had nothing left.

Dita sagged against him, drained, happy. He ran his hands over her quivering form, his expression satisfied. The male was in control and he realized that.

"You're merciless." She summoned a smile.

"I'm a monster." His hands returned to her breasts. "That was one."

He pinched her nipples, pulled on that sensitive flesh and Dita whimpered. She'd just come. She should be sated. But he knew her body, knew her penchant for pain, knew how she'd react to it, to him. Her wetness bathed the base of his cock. Her pussy pulsed with a soul deep desire. "Kralj."

"Mount me." He curved his palms under her ass and raised her high above him, that show of strength farther eroding her willpower.

Her opponent had unlimited power, knowledge, intent. It would be a challenge to defeat him, almost foolhardy. If it weren't for her pride, she wouldn't attempt it.

But she was determined to win, to achieve the impossible, to make him come before he gave her satisfaction a second time. Dita jutted her jaw and positioned his tip at her entrance. His hardness bumped against her sensitive flesh and she shuddered, the contact amplified by expectation.

He lowered her and she moaned. It felt so good, their joining. It was the belonging she'd always searched for, a safe place, a sanctuary in a brutal world.

Dita took his girth, all of his power into her body, his cockhead forcing her inner walls farther apart, reshaping her to fit him. The male she loved, the male who loved her back, was inside her.

Kralj had saved her life. His blood flowed through her veins, his nanohumanics changing her forever. He had given her a part of himself in the desert, a link that would never be severed, and he gave her a part of himself now.

She was fully seated on him, her pussy lips touching his base. "We're connected." Dita met Kralj's gaze. In the blackness of his eyes, she saw his beast. It was hungry, wanting her, but it would never hurt her. "Do you feel it?"

"I feel it too much," he rumbled. The air inside the chamber circulated faster and faster. Her male's renowned restraint was slipping.

She leaned forward and bracketed his handsome face with her palms. "Focus on me." She stroked his cheeks, one smooth, the other ridged with scars. "Give me your power."

They gazed at each other for four, five, six heartbeats.

"You're tight, hot, wet, mine." Kralj breathed deeply.

He was inhaling her scent. That knowledge heated her to the core, her wetness soaking his shaft, her nipples tightening even more.

"With one squeeze of your thighs, you could have won the challenge," he confessed. "My willpower was frayed. I would have come before I had given you release a second time."

That victory would have cost lives. She had to absorb some of his power before he relinquished his control. If she didn't, beings died.

"I don't want the easy win, handsome." She grinned at him. "I want to earn it."

Kralj's dark eyes glowed. "You _will_ earn it." He lifted her upward. Her pussy lips clung to him, slicking his flesh.

When she reached his rim, he met her gaze. He held her there for one, two heartbeats. Dita's body trembled. She knew what he planned to do, both wanted and dreaded it.

He dropped her.

Her ass smacked against his thighs. Pain and pleasure meshed, the emotions amplifying each other. She clenched his shaft, instinctively holding onto him.

They both moaned.

Kralj repeated the motion, lifting her, dropping her, lifting her, dropping her. She connected with his hard muscle again and again, her breasts jiggling.

She was riding her powerful male. He was underneath her, his abs rippling, his fit physique hers to utilize and she _would_ utilize him. She wanted all of him, wouldn't be satisfied with less.

"Faster," Dita urged, clasping his arms, trying to speed the pace. "Harder."

Kralj grunted and frustratingly maintained his slow, steady tempo, her stubborn male refusing to be pushed. His gaze was fixed on her face, his expression solemn, intense. His shadow coiled around them, the darkness creating intimacy. The two of them were in a private sanctuary, his attention on her, her attention on him.

They weren't normal beings and this wasn't a normal fuck.

The wind Kralj had created plucked at Dita's curls. The sleeping support shook. The weapons on the walls rattled.

Yet it was perfect, meant to be.

"Can you sense it?" Dita panted, cupping her breasts. "How right this is?" She constricted around his shaft, tightening their connection. "Your monster playing with mine?"

"Yes." The skin pulled tight over Kralj's cheekbones. "So right." Fires burned in his eyes. "You." He thrust upward as he drove her down on him, shaking her body. "Me."

Kralj ravished her and she ravished him right back, rippling her pussy walls over his shaft, taunting him with sexy sounds, with seductive looks. She couldn't control her rise and fall. Her small size hindered that action. But she could and would torment him in other ways.

"Mate." Growls escaped Kralj's lips, his beast wrestling for dominance. "Mine."

That declaration was low and deep and arousing as fuck, his voice reaching the very center of her, drawing forth a primal urge she battled to resist. "Kralj." His name was a plea for mercy.

She loved a monster and he offered no leniency, moving under her, winding her body tighter and tighter and tighter. She couldn't bear it. She—

He thrust upward, slapping his base against her feminine folds, severing her grip on reality.

"Mine," Dita shrieked, grasping his arms with her fingers, his cock with her pussy.

"Mine," Kralj roared, driving into her with a soul-bending force. The ceiling above them cracked. Weapons fell to the floor, clattering against the tile. Hard jets of nanohumanic-infused cum hit her intimate flesh and an ecstasy bordering on pain tore her apart.

She convulsed, her teeth clattering, her gaze unfocused. He came again and again, filling her with warmth, with his essence, the bliss divine. Colors danced in front of her eyes. Sounds swelled and muted. Every part of her bubbled, tingled, was vividly alive.

"Love." Dita collapsed, drained, her body folding over his. "Love you." Her brain had been razed by passion and she didn't know much else but she did know that.

She loved this male with all of her heart.

He strapped his arms around her, his skin damp from their exertions. "I love you, little one."

She rested her cheek on his chest. "I didn't win." She came first. "But I certainly didn't lose."

"This was a reprimand." Kralj splayed his fingers over her bare back, as though he wished to touch as much of her as possible. "Not a reward."

Dita laughed. "Is there a difference?"

She loved his reprimands, delighted in the feel of his coarse palm against her tender ass.

"Only _you_ would ask if there was a difference between a reprimand and a reward." He pulled her up until she stared straight into his dark eyes. "You're dangerous. I knew that when I met you."

"You recognized my fierce assassin skills?" Dita's chest puffed out with pride.

He shook his head, his expression bemused. "I recognized who you were to me."

"A fellow monster?"

"A fellow monster, my mate, the female I'm destined to love for my long lifespan, the only being who could make me lose control." Kralj skimmed his lips over hers, his light teasing kiss enchanting Dita. "My heart realized you were a threat."

She beamed at him. "You didn't heed that warning."

"I tried." He placed her palm on his scarred cheek. "But, with one touch of your hand, you defeated me. I was yours from that moment on."

"And I was yours." She stroked her handsome male's face, basking in his devotion. "Only two powerful beings could experience feelings this strong."

"Only two monsters could love this intensely." His eyes gleamed.

He rolled her onto her back and Dita laughed, clutching his wide shoulders.

She wouldn't trade her far-from-normal life for anything in the universe.

# # #

If you enjoyed **Dark Thoughts** and would like to receive updates on characters plus a notification when Dark Flight (Orol's story) becomes available, sign up for Cynthia Sax's release day newsletter at <http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/>

Keep in touch with Cynthia using the following links:

Website: CynthiaSax.com

Newsletter: Taste of Cyn newsletter

Facebook: cynthia.sax

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Blog: TasteOfCyn.com

Other Books by Cynthia Sax

Refuge Series

Dark Thoughts

Dark Flight

Dark Strength

Dark Fire

Dark Warlord

Dark Cure

Cyborg Sizzle Series

Releasing Rage

Breathing Vapor

Being Green

Crash And Burn

Defying Death

Chasing Mayhem

Jumping Barrel

Hers To Command

Ghost of a Machine

Seeking Vector

Knowing Zip

Taking Vengeance

The Cyborg's Secret Baby

### Excerpt – Dark Flight

**Cynthia Sax**

Here is an excerpt from Dark Flight, the next story in the Refuge series.

* * *

Orol hopped onto the parapet, leaned forward, and fell. Air rushed over his form, touching him all over, pulling at him. Scents bombarded his nostrils, changing as he moved. The ground blurred as he approached it.

He waited, waited, waited. Beings shrieked and ran out of his path, certain he'd crash into them, splattering his guts and gore and blood over them and the white sand.

Balvan, accustomed to his antics, simply rolled his eyes.

At the last moment, Orol spread his wings, arched his back, and soared upward, catching an air current. Flying. There was no other feeling like it. Elation filled his soul.

In the air, he felt complete, whole and powerful. He was free. No other being could touch him. He rolled in the wind, laughing, his movements controlled by his body.

Other beings gazed at him with fear and envy. He heard their comments clearly, his senses enhanced. They speculated on where he was going.

Orol didn't enlighten them. He left those beings behind and flew into the wastelands of Carinae E. The land was barren—sand and boulders, huge mountains of rock breaking up the flat terrain. The sky was blue, open, devoid of clouds. The sun shone, warming his wings and back.

Three Humanoid Alliance ships were parked at the edge of Kralj's territory. Those must have been the messengers sent to warn the warriors at the Refuge. The Ruler had the ability to control their minds, could freeze them for a couple of shifts, perhaps longer.

A couple of shifts should be enough time for Orol to retrieve the females. Their ship hadn't crashed far from his present position.

Excitement surged through him. Flapping his wings, he propelled himself forward faster. The wind flattened his feathers, pushed his hair back.

The terrain became more rocky, more dangerous, the hiding places multiplying. Gunfire echoed in the distance. Orol scanned the area. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Deciding to err on the side of caution, he climbed higher, putting his form out of range of ordinary guns. The air became cooler, thinner. His body immediately adjusted to that change.

He was designed for flying, meant to be airborne.

The scent of spilled fuel hit his nostrils first, then projectile residue, blood. His inner predator shrieked with the joy of the hunt. He spun in the sky, vibrating with anticipation.

The gunfire grew louder. Orol cocked his head, listening, evaluating the situation. The shooters closest to him bombarded their target with projectiles, firing with wild abandon. The shooter farthest from him had more restraint, returning one projectile for every ten the shooter's opponents fired.

Sunlight reflected off the downed ship. The vessel had been torn into pieces, debris scattered behind it. It was a wonder any being survived.

Orol glided, his approach silent.

A male crouched on a mountain of rock far below him. His garment, consisting of pieced together scraps of leather, identified him as a scavenger, a being who raided downed ships and abandoned domiciles.

The male's back was to Orol. His gun was pointed at the ship. He fired again and again.

The single shooter, the male's target, fired once. The back of the scavenger's skull exploded, brains and gore splattering over the white rock. The male fell, his gun clattering to the stone.

Two more projectiles whizzed by the scavenger. If he had remained in place, they would have struck him, killing him as quickly as the first projectile had.

Frag. Orol's jaw dropped. That shooter had skill.

Orol flew in lazy circles around the site. Bodies littered the area, all belonging to scavengers, all killed by projectiles. The ship was a temptation they couldn't resist. Parts could be stripped and traded on the resource-limited planet.

Only one of the scavengers remained. He shot at the ship with a desperation that was palpable. Sweat beaded on his forehead, slicked his straggly hair. Orol smelled the other male's fear, the scent rancid and strong, causing his nose to twitch. His top lip curled in disgust.

Orol followed the male's aim. The muzzle of a long gun poked out of a gap between the ship's underbelly and a ripped-off panel. He didn't glimpse a face, eyes, fingers.

Three shots echoed in rapid succession. The scavenger's body fell to the rock, crimson blooming over his chest, his arms and legs twitching.

The shooter had fired blind. Orol gazed at the corpses with wonder. Had all of the males been shot without visual verification?

He doubted the shooter was a scavenger, not with that talent for killing. He had to be a mercenary...or a Humanoid Alliance warrior.

Had the shooter killed the females? Was he too late to save them?

The area was silent, still. Orol drifted closer to the shooter's hiding place. The muzzle of the long gun disappeared. Metal clinked against metal. Fabric rustled.

The most delectable scent drifted upward, teasing his nostrils.

Female. His.

Orol's cock hardened, pressing against his leather ass coverings. His body quivered with awareness. His senses focused on the being below him.

A tiny form clad in gray crawled over the panel, her ass waving in the air, her long gun slung over one shoulder. Crimson coated the other shoulder blade. Orol frowned. His female was hurt. Slices in her flight suit revealed golden skin, more torn flesh.

She tumbled onto the sand, wincing with the effort, and rolled into a crouching position. That action eased his concern. Her wounds must not be too severe. They weren't stopping her. She sprinted in the direction the ship had come from, following the drag marks on the ground.

His little shooter was both his female _and_ his prey. The predator in him was in ecstasy.

Orol gave chase, monitoring the terrain around them, ensuring no one but he would target his female. She must have somehow sensed his presence. She zigged and zagged, trying to throw him off her trail.

"I have you, Tiny Warrior." He swooped downward.

"Never." She reached for her long gun, twisted her lithe form, flinging herself onto her back. A sob escaped her lips as her shoulder smacked against the sand.

His female was a force.

"Give up. You're no match for me." Orol grasped her weapon, yanked it from her slender fingers, tossed it to the side.

"I'll give up when I'm dead." She extracted a gun from the pocket of her flight suit.

* * *

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About Cynthia Sax

USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes contemporary, SciFi and paranormal erotic romances. Her stories have been featured in Star Magazine, Real Time With Bill Maher, and numerous best of erotic romance top ten lists.

She lives in a world filled with magic and romance. Although her heroes may not always say, "I love you," they will do anything for the women they adore. They live passionately. They play hard. They love the same women forever.

Cynthia has loved the same wonderful man forever. Her supportive hubby offers himself up to the joys and pains of research, while they travel the world together, meeting fascinating people and finding inspiration in exotic places such as Istanbul, Bali, and Chicago.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled release day newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com

Website: CynthiaSax.com

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Blog: TasteOfCyn.com

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