Dark Thoughts Read online

  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 co
vering. 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.