Page 9 of Aria's Ascension

Aria’s eye twitched at the translator’s unfortunate literalness, but let it go and ignored her mens’ startled grunts.

The potential applications of such a talent were vast and he was right, that was most definitely useful, but something else occurred to her very quickly.

Narrowing her gaze suspiciously, she asked, “Have you been reading my mind this whole time?”

A smile flirted at the edges of his wide, full lips before a soft chuckle escaped him. He gave her a half shrug, half hand wave and purred, “Only a little, myaessa. Enough to find you here, and to ensure you weren’t prone to cannibalism upon my waking, but not so much as to discover your secrets. I shall have to…probedeeper to hunt down those delicacies.”

Aria bit her lip at the suggestiveness in his voice and, for just a moment, reconsidered her plan of rescuing slaves now and sex later. Being probed had never sounded so damned appealing as it did in that moment. With lust still burning bright, she regarded him for a moment longer. She decided to try something—something that, if she were thinking straight, she would’ve known better than to attempt.

Instead of passively broadcasting her emotions, she intentionally sent him her desire, her hunger for him, and the achy feeling between her legs.

Kix’s eyes widened for a moment before they fluttered shut and a tremor shook his broad shoulders. Opening them to slits, he pinned her with his stare, letting her see the sparkles flickering madly in his pupils.

Aria gasped softly and squeezed her thighs together. He looked feral. His features instantly became sharper. His body tensed, poised to pounce. In the span of a heartbeat, his mask of civility was stripped away, letting her see the deliciously dark wildness he tried so hard to hide.

He closed the distance between them until they were standing chest to chest, the movement so quick she hadn’t been able to track him. Lifting his hand, he pried her lips apart and pushed a finger into her mouth, lightly sliding it over her tongue.

Aria was frozen, feeling very much like prey, except she wanted to be caught and eaten by the predator slicking his finger in and out of her mouth and staring at her as if he’d like to pin her down and fuck her until she screamed.

Leaning down until they were a breath apart, he opened his mouth and flicked his tongue against her upper lip, then hissed as if her taste pushed his restraint to the breaking point, giving her a glimpse of sharp, white fangs she could’ve sworn weren’t there moments ago.

He pulled back slightly and withdrew his finger, groaning as he roughly smeared the wet tip over her lips until she could feel them glisten.

“Careful, my song,” he growled softly. “My control is brittle, and I would not have our first mating be a quick thing.” He lowered his voice even more, holding her captive with his gaze, and rasped, “I would take you over and over, then watch your red mate fuck you before I take you again.” At that, Tirox pressed himself to her back, pinning her between them so she could feel their hardness against her. “I would pass you between us until your throat is hoarse from singing and your thighs are dripping with our essence.” Something dark slithered through his eyes, and his lip pulled back slightly in a snarl. “We will fuck you until you cannot imagine life without us, until your need for your mates is such that even death could not convince you to part from us.”

Fuck me.

Aria had never been so turned on in her life. Her heart was pounding, her nipples were hard points, her clit was throbbing with need, and her thighs were slick as she stared up at him wide-eyed. Her quiet Kix was showing her that intensity she’d sensed under the surface, and she loved it. She’d never considered she might enjoy a little dominance in a man, having always been the aggressor, but Kix was quickly convincing her otherwise.

But, he was right. Now wasn’t the time to let her lust make the decisions, and she didn’t want her first time with them to be rushed.

They stepped away, and Aria released a shuddering breath. Licking her lips, she closed her eyes and took a second to get herself under control so she could concentrate on the mission.

When she opened them again, Kix had locked down his own expression into the calm, controlled one she was accustomed to seeing. While she didn’t love the mask he wore, she appreciated his restraint and let it bolster her own.

Glancing between them, she found both looking at her, waiting for her direction. Nodding sharply, she announced, “Let’s go find a data console. Maybe we can find some information on where Zhrovni lives and what kind of defenses we’re looking at. Patrols, guards, surveillance… killer robots with lasers.”

With that, she turned and made her way to the door with them on her heels. Pressing her back to it, she asked, “Ready?” At their nod, she braced herself and jerked her chin at the keypad, wordlessly telling one of them to enter the code.

“Let’s go take this fucking place down.”

Chapter 5

The door slid open with a hiss. Holding her throwing knife at the ready, Aria scanned both sides of the hallway. Finding it empty, she eyed the doors lining the walls to either side.

None of them had a sign conveniently saying ‘Enter Here for Data Console,’ so she asked the guys behind her which direction they’d come from. Tirox tipped his head to the right, so she headed that way.

Every time they passed a door, Tirox would pause to try and pick up vibrations signaling someone was moving around within. If he deemed it empty, Kix would input the code, and they’d peek inside. Checking each room was time consuming, but there wasn’t a way around it, not with the lack of any kind of designation or sign as to the room’s purpose.

So far, they’d only found more labs, holding more sedated gladiators. Aria wanted to wake them all up, but she knew that wasn’t wise, not until she had some way of knowing if one of them was a serial killer who’d try to murder them at the first opportunity. They had enough enemies without adding more because she wasn’t cautious enough.

A dozen labs later, and too many gladiators to count, Aria was beginning to get frustrated. And worried.

How long could they expect to creep around here without being discovered? The sense that they were rapidly running out of luck prodded her to move faster, but she controlled it, forcing herself to stay slow and careful.

It wasn’t until they turned a corner into what appeared to be a different section of the underground labyrinth that they found anything useful. The doors looked exactly the same, but the lighting was different here, and the floor was made of expensive-looking polished stone instead of the same light grey plastic-metal as the walls.

About twenty feet down the new hallway, Tirox stopped in front of the first doors, paused for a second, then nodded to signal it was empty. Aria input the code, having seen the sequence Kix was using, and opened it cautiously, wary of what she’d find on the other side.

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