“As in, you stole powers?”

  Destiny nodded. “Mine… weren’t by choice. I mean, we don’t have traditional powers, but we have certain aspects, like spiritual connections, and mine was an ability to track. So they gave me the power of portals, figuring that way I could track items and follow them back to the worlds of their hosts. At first I was excited, but when I found out they were going to use it to attack Charm and her allies… and you? I was devastated.”

  “Wow, I mean…” All of this was a bit much, and she must have seen that, because she reached out and put a hand on mine. “Wow.”

  “Double wow,” she said, giving my hand a squeeze. “Know that I didn’t mean to hurt you or anyone you care about. And if I could do it over, I would have rather died than be part of that attack.”

  “But then you wouldn’t have me here with you,” I replied, trying to get my mind off it all with humor.

  She didn’t laugh, but also didn’t look away. Her eyes were intently focused on mine, and then to my surprise, she scooted closer still and gently touched her lips to mine.

  “Is that… part of the cleaning again?” I asked.

  “No. It’s because I think I like you.”

  I touched my lip, then pulled her close, dragging her on top of me so that we could kiss again, this time more passionately.

  “Not ready yet, right?” I asked between kisses, ready to get off this world as soon as possible.

  She leaned back, settling one of her legs between mine so that my bulge was pressed tight against her thigh. After a few seconds of trying, she shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “Then let’s keep our minds distracted.” I pulled her back in for a kiss, and she went with it, both of us enjoying the moment we had clearly been anticipating.

  Her body pressed against mine, tongue working furiously against mine and hands caressing my body around the armor… it was everything I could have hoped for. My hand moved down to her mound, moving aside the armor, then in to run my fingers through the edge of her pubic hair, anticipating the feeling of her warm, wet pussy in my hand. She suddenly sat up, eyes sparkling with white light.

  “Oh!” she said, then took my hand away and put her armor back in place, nodding for me to sit as well. “It’s time—my power’s cooldown is over.”

  “Now?” I protested, cock throbbing and begging to be set free from my pants.

  She gave it a playful squeeze, then a pat as she said, “We’re not quite there yet, anyway. Come, armor up and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  I couldn’t imagine the blue balls that were going to hit, but I put my armor on as commanded. Next I accepted her hand and watched as the light behind her eyes grew brighter and brighter until suddenly we were engulfed in the light and I could see nothing else.

  CHAPTER 19: SNAPDRAGON

  Unknown

  My legs moved like they were weighted down, each step sending a shout through my brain that told me to stop. Glaze was there at my side, continuing on, and dammit so would I.

  It’s not right, a voice in the back of my mind said. Don’t use her like this…

  “Shut up,” I muttered.

  “What?” Glaze asked.

  “Wasn’t talking to you.”

  He glanced around, then stopped and spun me around by the shoulder. “There’s nobody else here. Don’t tell me you’re hearing the voices again.”

  I slapped his hand away from me, glaring. “No, I’m not hearing the fucking voices.” A lie. But he needed to hear the lie, because we both knew the truth would stop this plan in its tracks.

  “Snapdragon…”

  “I’m good,” I said, glancing back at the ship we’d taken. It was cloaked and not likely to be noticed in the darkness anyway. Then, turning back to the small, stone houses, I added, “Let’s just get this over with.”

  “How do you even know she’s still here? Or that the supers haven’t found her and locked her up?”

  “A hunch,” I replied, and the voice in my head added, Because this is her fate.

  I motioned him on, ducking through the small town and staying low behind walls. The last time I’d been here was when a team of us had gone out in pursuit of a bounty, following a supervillain who had somehow been able to track the movements of Breaker and his Berserkers. While we caught our mark, what the rest of the team had never known was that I’d found the reason said mark had been able to track supers, and I’d fallen for her, hard.

  She had gone by Amira, and her home was half an hour outside of Tozeur, Tunisia. When I’d first laid eyes on her, she’d been in the midst of her tracking ritual, which meant nude and submerged in a pool of water. I’d had a feeling about her, so I ditched my companions and then snuck down a hidden staircase at the back of a mosque, found the underground pools with arched stone above, and then heard her call my name.

  “Snapdragon, is it?” she had said, except it hadn’t been entirely her, but the voice in my head—but also her. I couldn’t quite comprehend it.

  Then I’d advanced, spotted her nude form through the dark water, and found myself falling into its chill depths.

  Before I’d known what was happening, she had nearly taken my life. Then, before she knew what was happening, we were kissing. Soon we were out of the water, me tearing off my clothes, her nibbling on my nipple, and the voices in our heads whispered seductive nothings that made us feel like we’d known each other for years.

  When I started to reach climax, Amira had suddenly joined in by a psychic link, and then we lay there for what felt like hours, trying to comprehend what had happened. In the end, we had sworn to protect each other, and she had promised not to help anyone who would draw the attention of my allies.

  Since that night, I hadn’t seen Amira. However, I knew that if anyone was going to be able to assist us in tracking down Ragnor or anyone connected to the Cosmic Connector, it would be her.

  “This is the place,” I told Glaze, eyeing the mosque. Its sandy beige exterior echoed the natural hues of the surrounding countryside during the day. Its narrow minaret soared skyward, its small windows spiraling upwards to a lantern-like apex, a beacon against the dark Tunisian sky. The simple wooden door, ornately carved with geometric designs, reminded me of the patterned dress Amira had put on after our last encounter.

  That thought alone was enough to remind me of the taste of her. My clit tingled with warmth, my pussy wet at the memory.

  “Stay here,” I said.

  “What?” He glanced around. “What if the locals spot me, or…?”

  “Or what? A goat tries to bite your ass? Deal with it. Stay. Here.”

  He didn’t like it, but didn’t complain further. I slipped into the narrow alley between a house and the mosque, then ducked into the hidden stairway from before. Only, this time it was boarded up. I frowned, wondering if Glaze was right and Amira really was gone.

  “You weren’t going to come back,” a voice said, and I spun to see her silhouette in the darkness of the alley. I knew it was her instantly, our minds melding as they had before and that familiarity taking hold.

  This woman who I had barely known but who I wanted to open up to and never leave again stood there with a grin slowly spreading across her face.

  “I… need yo—” I started, but she ran to me and pressed her lips to mine, hands pulling me close.

  “I need you, too,” she said, taking my wrist and pulling me with her. “But not here.”

  “Wait,” I started, but she was already pulling me through a door to a house nearby, already turning and pulling at my clothes. Longing overtook me, the voice in my head demanding that I have her, pleading for the taste of her sweet pussy on my tongue.

  So I returned her kisses, pulled at her dress, and went along with it. She held up a finger, then turned to light a candle.

  To see you, the voice inside my head said. And seeing her was a pleasure, this Tunisian woman with her milk-chocolate skin, her deep brown eyes, and her curly hair tied up in a messy bun. The candlelight played with the curves of her breasts as she reached up to undo the bun, letting her hair fall around her shoulders.

  We belong together. Forever. Take me.

  Her eyes never left mine as she lowered herself to the folded mats on the ground that served as a bed. She leaned back and spread her legs. Her pink insides stood in stark contrast to her dark skin. I went to my knees and bent over, gripping her legs and kissing first her inner thigh, then moving down to nuzzle her pussy. Wet hair glistened in the candlelight. Her pussy was slick on my lips. She groaned and tensed at the touch of my tongue, one hand planted in my hair as if it could keep me down there inside her forever.

  My tongue found her firm clit, feeling it harden even more with each lick. She tried to force my head lower, and I gave in with a chuckle. She groaned louder when I pressed my tongue more firmly against her wetness and slid it deeper inside instead of merely teasing that most sensitive spot. Her heat was incredible, the taste of her desire mingling with the sweet scent of her skin. I almost writhed off the bed when I raked my teeth along the edge of her pussy lips, lightly nipping at them before letting them go and stroking them gently with my tongue.

  I spread her legs wider to free up access to her clit, which I flicked with my tongue. Her thighs tensed as she fought back her orgasm, teetering on the edge until she could barely contain herself. She took a pillow and bit into it, yelping, then threw it aside and pushed me back and over, switching places.

  Now her face was buried in my pussy and it was my turn to squirm.

  She pushed my legs up until my heels were on each side of my face in a diamond shape, then started licking from my ass up to the top of the crease where thigh meets stomach. She used her fingers, lips, and tongue, rubbing pressure into my clit. Every nerve in my body responded, waves of electric energy shooting through me until I completely lost control of myself and clenched up, squirting out into her mouth.

  Judging by her moans and continued kisses, she loved it. She didn’t stop until I was spent, unable to move.

  She wrapped her arms around me and held me tight to her as I shuddered, another orgasm taking me.

  “I…” I looked at her, blinked, and shook my head. Where the hell had that come from?

  “You shouldn’t have waited so long to return to me,” she said. “But I knew you were coming, so the wait was worth it.”

  “Oh, I came,” I said, trying to make a joke, then laughing at how corny it had come out.

  She grinned and leaned in to nibble on my lip.

  “And your brother?” she asked, glancing at the wall behind us, which I assumed to be the direction in which he waited. “Why did you bring him?”

  “Ah…” I inched away, then pushed myself up. Her hand followed, caressing the underside of my left breast, then moving in to pinch my nipple. “Careful,” I said, taking her hand away and kissing her finger. “I’m sensitive after.”

  “Aren’t we all?” she said, guiding my finger to pinch her nipple. She squirmed. “But some of us like pain.”

  I frowned, then kissed her again, figuring it would help to soften the news that I hadn’t only come here to make love to her.

  “Don’t worry, I know,” Amira said, looking away with a hint of regret in her face.

  “Know?”

  “That you’re here for a reason beyond this. Our connection is still strong.”

  We’d never spoken of it openly in the past, but now I turned her to face me and stared into her eyes. “You hear the voices?”

  She nodded. “And more than that. With you, it’s like… we’re one.”

  Dammit, how could I not kiss her? For a moment we were locked in an embrace again, kissing with flesh pressed against flesh, but she pulled back after a bit and said, “Tell me.”

  “I thought you know?”

  “I sense things, hear voices that convey some information, but not all.”

  With a nod, and conscious that Glaze might get worried and come knocking, I reached for my clothes and started dressing as I told her all about the prophecy and that I hoped she could help me to find Ragnor. I decided not to mention anything about the Cosmic Connector, in case doing so would scare her off.

  As soon as I finished talking, she looked at me and arched an eyebrow before saying, “When do we leave?”

  “Oh, um…”

  “I can help, yes. But under two conditions.”

  “And those are?”

  “One, you don’t treat me as a tool you’re using for this mission. I’m coming as your damned lover.”

  “Damned might be the key word there,” I noted, then waved off the comment at her confused look. “And the second?”

  “That you not keep secrets from me. I can’t entirely read your mind, but the voices speak up. Whatever it is that connects us is doing its job, so… do you accept?”

  I frowned, not sure I liked this level of invasiveness, then nodded.

  “So?” She turned and found her dress, then stood to slip it on. “Out with it.”

  “If you already know…” Her look of annoyance pushed me a step back, and I blurted out, “The Cosmic Connector. Ragnor is after it, but I think we can intercept him and get it for ourselves.”

  She eyed me with skepticism, then smiled. “See, was that so hard?”

  “You’re not… I don’t know, scared off?”

  “Why would I be? Never heard of your weird connector thing or Ragnor.” She was dressed now, so she turned back to me and gestured to the door. “Let’s do it.”

  “Hold up. How are you going to track someone you’ve never heard of?”

  “Easy—follow the thread. All we have to do is find someone who has interacted with him, or someone who has interacted with that person. Considering how many criminals we have locked up on the Citadel, I’d imagine it won’t be hard. From there, it’s all about following the threads back to the source.”

  I’d come this far, after all. I nodded and led the way back to Glaze. When we reached him, he did a double take and then shook his head.

  “Don’t tell me this was all so you could find a hookup buddy to join us on the journey,” he said. “Because that’s not fair.”

  “She’s going to guide us to Ragnor,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “And… yes, she and I might hook up here and there along the way. Don’t worry, if you find a hook-up buddy who’s integral to the plan, you can bring her or him along as well.”

  “Ha. Maybe I will find one and you’ll be sorry.”

  “Why would I be sorry?”

  “Because… of all the loud noises she’d make. Or… shut up.”

  Amira grinned, hands on her hips, assessing my brother. “Hmm, I can’t imagine he’d have a hard time finding someone.”

  “You, none of that,” I said. “You’re with me, and me alone. Come on, we have work to do.”

  Ignoring the way my brother checked out my strange booty call, I led the way back to the ship. We needed to find ourselves some villains, and since they needed to have a good chance of history with Ragnor, I figured there was only one place to start: the prisons of the Citadel.

  CHAPTER 20: BREAKER

  Darkness

  Nothing about the system Death Girl used to get us to our destination was within my comprehension. She had charged Leticia, slammed a hand into her chest, and somehow that had unleashed darkness that brought us here.

  For what seemed like hours but could have been days, we swirled in darkness, shouting for each other but unable to move or do a damned thing. I tried transforming into a dragon more than once, attempted to pull upon light and anything else I could think of to break free or illuminate my path, but nothing worked.

  It wasn’t until a little foxlike creature of light shot past and nearly missed me that hope reared its head.

  “Charm!” I shouted, and the little creature turned to look at me, then vanished.

  A second later, Charm was at my side, glimmering, and had an arm around me. Clinging to her tails were Twitch and Gale, and soon we had the rest of the team except for Leticia and Death Girl. We found the latter first, but it wasn’t a pleasant meeting.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Charm demanded of her, nearly letting go of us to attack the woman.

  I clung to her and said, “Wait, wait. Hear her out.”

  “Please,” Death Girl said, the darkness gathering around her to almost look like that cloak Leticia used to wear. “She’s not gone, she’s… all around us. We’re one with her.”

  “You know what, I was wrong,” I said. “She’s lost it.”

  “So I have your permission to beat her ass?”

  “Charm, stop.” Death Girl motioned at our surroundings, skull radiating warmth in the otherwise cold darkness. “You each will have to face death or come close to it along this journey—I can see that much. This is as close as Leticia will come to death’s door, and believe me, she will not cross that threshold. Even now, I sense her willingness to take her form again. Only, we can’t let her, not yet.”

  “Why the hell not?” Charm demanded, and then spun on us. “And why aren’t you all more irate?”

  “Trying to give her the benefit of the doubt,” Twitch said, and Muerta nodded at her side.

  “Laurel?” I asked, knowing she could read the rest, and also read into Death Girl’s mind.

  “It’s okay,” Laurel said, caressing my arm reassuringly, and I knew that what Death Girl said was true and that Leticia was safe.

  I nodded, eyeing Charm to see if she was on the same page yet. She looked confused and annoyed, but nodded.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “Now comes the fun part,” Death Girl replied. “The darkness of Leticia’s mind. Xin would be proud of us right now, but the question is, how dark do you think it can be?”

  Already the darkness was shifting, opening up into a circle ahead, through which a purple light shone.

  “Who… are you?” a voice asked.

  Then a force pulled us forward into that light, and we found ourselves at what looked like a table of others like Leticia but with hoods covering their heads. All turned, darkness where their faces should have been save for the glowing of their eyes. From what I could tell, these were the Shadow Runner’s contemporaries, or those she had run with before coming to our side. The one at the far end of the table seemed to be the big boss, standing tall over the rest of them and shifting as the voice came again.