Page 16 of Colossal

Loran moved too fast, lashing out to grab her thigh and haul her toward him. She stumbled into his lap.

“Was it here?” His hand slid to her crotch, squeezing over the trousers.

She should get up. She should smack his fucking paws away and get out of there. But she was already on edge from last night, and Loran’s rough grip was so possessive in exactly the way her body couldn't help but respond to.

“No.” Kaia planted her hands on his shoulders and pushed herself up. He didn’t stop her, though a knowing glint in his eyes made clear that he was well aware of her hesitation. “Nothing happened. But I’m not doing this with an uhyre.”

Loran leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I don’t think you’ve thought this through, Scav.”

“I’m not becoming an alien cum junkie, Loran.”

“It’s only a problem if you don’t have a steady supply, which you obviously would on a ship with the source. Besides, it’s all temporary for you. Just a stepping stone to your Upload, right?”

Kaia fidgeted with her fingernails. He wasn’t wrong. If nothing else, the prospect of developing an exorin dependence would motivate her to get Loran a foothold onColossalfaster, to end it all as soon as possible.

Except for two big problems.

“You’re afraid you won’t go through with it if you’re addicted,” Loran guessed.

“That and the fact that he mightmurder mebefore I can Upload.”

Loran waved her off. “He’s got, what, five percent in him? Ten? Pretty sure he’s been forced to learn to control himself.”

“His human fatherisalive…” Kaia conceded.

“There you go. He’ll just rough you up a little. But hey…” Loran raised a brow. “…We both know you won’t mind.”

Kaia turned her back, fists clenched. He knew her too well, and she hated that, but it also meant she trusted his read of the situation. Loran wanted something very specific out of this deal—if he thought she’d be killed before she could be useful, he wouldn’t bother.

“And the other thing?” she muttered.

Kaia tensed with the weight of a hand on her shoulder behind her. His fingertips brushed her neck as he picked at the loose curls there, smoothing them back over her shoulder with a gentleness he rarely used. “Keeping your wits to get the job done?” he murmured gently.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll help you there,” he crooned. “If I start sensing any trepidation, or if you cut contact at any point once you’re onColossal, you have my word. I’ll make it my mission to take you apart piece by piece myself. There’ll be no Upload for you then. Not ever.”

Kaia stood rigid, holding her breath as he palmed the exposed side of her neck.

“But if you follow through and do a good job, get me what I need on that ship,” his breath was hot at her nape, “I’ll kill you in an Upload rig. Even if the exorin makes you beg to stay. Making sure you get to Heaven will be the first thing I do, whether you like it or not.”

Kaia exhaled the breath she’d been holding, shoulders unwinding their tension. Loran was not a good man. But she’d been under his heel for years, and she knew him, too. She could trust him on this one.

Loran turned her around to face him, a small smile on his lips. “Now why don’t you go out and fix up that hull damage we talked about earlier? Take a couple of hours before you dock back in.”

Kaia nodded. Loran had a plan, and all she had to do was follow through.

* * *

“Gonna go patch up the aft hull, Bison,” she said to the docksman on duty once she got there.

Loran’s suggestion for her to do this was smart. She needed to clear her head and prepare for what she was getting herself into, and he knew that. Patching up the station was her meditation. Normally she’d be resentful at being manipulated like this, but now… Well, she’d take whatever tricks he had to offer to ensure their success.

Forty minutes later, she was in theTake, working the patch gun in one long clamp arm and the carbon patches in the other. It was delicate work, requiring precision that was not easy in such an clunky old vessel. But Kaia was good at it, and it would help her work off her nerves; and keep her distracted for a few hours.

She glanced at the time. An hour and a half to go.

CHAPTER8

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