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He blinked his eyes open and forced the image to the back of his mind. He took a deep breath to regain his composure, but her face lingered. He’d felt connected to her the moment she entered the hold but what did this vision mean?
A guilty smile curved his lips. It meant he wouldn’t mind devouring her pussy and then fucking her senseless. Was there really any mystery here?
Not only was she beautiful, exactly the sort of female he favored, but her protectiveness of the others spoke well of her character. It didn’t matter how appealing he found her. She was not for him. There were rules surrounding conduits and all of them would keep him from ever getting close to her.
You can get close to her now, his mental voice challenged.Mark her tonight and Zevon himself won’t be able to tell you no.
He shook away the temptation. More than likely such a rash act would land him in prison. Besides, these females were terrified and confused. The last thing they needed was an aggressive male making sexual demands.
Trepidation ran its icy fingers down Neloff’s spine and he quickly looked around. The command deck was quiet. Everyone was calmly doing their jobs. He’d long since learned to pay attention to his instincts, so he checked the overview display. There were no sensor alarms anywhere on the ship. That left two possibilities. A disruption with a crewmember or the misbehavior of his passengers. He knew which one was more likely.
He stood up and motioned to his second officer. “I’m going to go check on our guests.”
Neloff left the command deck and jogged toward the cargo holds. The ship wasn’t that big, but the two areas couldn’t be farther away. The command deck was on deck five in the forward section of the ship. The holds were on deck one, aft.
Female voices yelling and cheering confirmed his suspicions as soon as he stepped off the lift on deck one. Even hearing the melee before he saw it, Neloff was shocked by the utter chaos that greeted him. The women had formed a ring near the center of the room. They were shouting encouragements and cheering whatever was going on in the center.
He rushed across the room, pushing women out of his way as he went. Two females were going at each other every bit as violently as any fight he’d ever broken up among the crew. He grabbed the back of one of their shirts and dragged her away from her opponent. One of the guards quickly grabbed the other.
“Enough!” Neloff roared when the wildcat in his grasp continued to kick, twist, and claw in an effort to continue the fighting.
“She started it,” the troublemaker insisted as she smeared blood across her face with the back of her hand.
“She did not!” a redhaired beauty shot back. She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Ask anyone. Jessie started it when she threw fruit at Eden’s head.”
“I didn’t throw it at her. I just threw it. I insist that she be?—”
“Take her to the clinic and get her patched up. Then let her cool off in a holding cell,” Neloff cut in. “This isn’t the first time her temper has gotten her into trouble but I guarantee it will be the last. At least on this ship.”
“And what’s going to happen to Eden?” the troublemaker demanded to know, tugging against the hold of the guard attempting to lead her toward the door. “It takes two people to fight.”
“Focus on your behavior,” Neloff advised. “I will worry about hers.”
“She better be punished too.” Not waiting for her to finish her arguments, the guard started for the door, dragging her behind him like an obstinate child. “She threw the first punch! Everyone saw it. If I’m guilty, so is she. I think she broke my nose.” The final phrase echoed down the corridor.
Neloff released his grip on the back of Eden’s shirt and looked down at the disheveled female before him. He hadn’t known her name until the others used it, but he’d noticed Eden the moment she walked into the hold. Streaked with intriguing gold strands, her brown hair fell in soft waves to her shoulders. Her soulful eyes were a shade that mixed gray and green. She wasn’t the most beautiful female in the room, but she was by far the most appealing. Her features were well-balanced and delicate, her body softly rounded yet undeniably feminine. Had his vision been accurate? Would her breasts perfectly fit the palms of his hands?
“Come,” he ordered and headed for the door. Her steady footfalls assured him that she’d obeyed. Good. He had trained as a source, but his controller instincts were unusually prevalent right now. If she challenged him, he would take control and she wasn’t ready for that sort of aggression.
Many hybrids qualified in both disciplines, controller and source. The pure bloods liked to insist that qualifying in both diluted one’s abilities in the discipline eventually chosen. That argument was proven false when hybrids started forming power triads with each other. The hybrid triads found they could combine abilities and transform one form of energy into another. These were rare and highly coveted gifts and only hybrid triads had been able to master them.
Neloff released a frustrated sigh. He shouldn’t be thinking about power triads, hybrid or otherwise. The female silently following him was not his to court, much less claim. She was not just a conduit, but a second-level conduit. Her genome, which was already engineered, had been edited for a second time to ensure that she perform to her full potential. Planetary leaders were fighting over these conduits. She was so far out of his reach that it was laughable to even imagine them together.
And yet the image came to him spontaneously, indicating some sort of metaphysical link.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked softly as they stepped into the lift. She appeared composed, but Neloff could sense her uncertainty mounting.
“I am well aware that the other female is a troublemaker, but she is not wrong. That fight was clearly interactive.”
“I don’t deny participating in the fight, but she had been goading me all day.”
“That is not an excuse.” They exited the elevator and he paused. “Do you require medical attention? I’m pretty sure you broke Jessie’s nose. Did she damage any part of your body?”
Eden shook her head, but her lips lifted in a smug little smile. “It wasn’t a fair fight. My dormmates and I found a bunch of martial arts videos on the internet. We’ve been sparring with each other and have gotten pretty good.”
“Apparently.” He didn’t allow himself to smile until his back was turned again. Her feistiness pleased him, but he was commander of this ship. He could not afford to encourage bad behavior.
He said nothing more until they reached his cabin. He scanned open the door and motioned her inside.
