Page 20 of Darkest Desire

“A special flower dedicated to the Goddess which grows only on First Word,” Sylvan explained. “If you’ve never been there, you won’t have smelled them. They have a sweet scent that’s said to affect females especially—though how it affects them, I don’t know,” he added.

“Okay, so we’ll hopefully be able to smell it when we get close to it,” Phoebe said. “But can you tell us any more about the Salacions? What kind of people are they? I mean—are they humanoid at least?”

“Most of them are.” Commander Sylvan steepled his fingers on his desk. “The thing is, Salacious Prime wasn’t settled by any one group of people—it started as a smuggler’s hideout and then it became a kind of stronghold for the males who live there now.”

“You mean Males who wish to own females and treat them as nothing but sexual slaves,” Sirex growled, his eyes flashing.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Sylvan nodded. “Normally the Kindred would have nothing to do with such a place or its inhabitants—you know that we refuse to do any kind of business or trade agreements with a planet where women are mistreated. However, the High Council has determined that retrieving The Goddess’s Finger is so important that we must act.”

“I understand.” Sirex nodded. “So Agent Jenkins and I are to retrieve the Finger in any way we can.”

“Yes, but try a straightforward approach first,” Commander Sylvan said. “You’ll be going undercover as a rich merchant selling wormhole technology and I’ll be extending you an unlimited line of credit. If you can get the Emperor of Salacious Prime to sell you The Goddess’s Finger, then by all means, just buy it. However, if he absolutely refuses to sell…”

“Then we take it,” Phoebe finished for him.

“Yes, but carefully. This is your first mission, Agent Jenkins, and it’s not without danger.” Commander Sylvan gave her a stern look. “I’ll expect you to follow Agent Sirex’s lead and not take any dangerous risks. I don’t want to lose you, all right?”

“Understood, Commander.” Phoebe nodded at once. “I’m more than happy to follow Sir’s—I mean Commander Sirex’s orders.”

“Good.” Commander Sylvan nodded. “Then go see Kat for your costumes. And may the Goddess bless your efforts.”

“Thank you, Commander.” Sirex was already rising from his seat. Phoebe did the same and Commander Sylvan offered both of them a warrior’s clasp which involved pressing their forearms to his and gripping the elbow instead of the hand.

As she gripped her boss’s arm, Phoebe wondered how this first assignment was going to work out for her…and if there was any way it could bring her and Sirex closer.

9

SIREX

Sirex’s mind was in a turmoil as he and Phoebe made their way to Kat’s suite to be fitted for their costumes. On one hand, he was gratified to be chosen for such an important mission. But on the other hand, it meant he had to treat his student like she was his own personal Sex Slave—which didn’t sit right with him.

She’s not your student anymore, though—now she’s an Elite Espionage Agent, he reminded himself. It’s no longer inappropriate to have a relationship that’s more than professional.

Not that he was looking for that kind of relationship with Phoebe. Far from it. As far as he was concerned, she was just a junior agent he was supposed to keep under his wing, as the humans said, until she was ready to go on a mission on her own.

Nothing is going to change—I’m not going to treat her any differently than I did when she was my student, he told himself firmly. Just because he had to pretend she was his Sex Slave didn’t mean he would actually do anything, well, sexual with her. The two of them were simply going undercover—they were going to dress the part but it wasn’t like they were actually going to do anything other than that. Were they?

No—definitely not, Sirex told himself. And he definitely wasn’t going to give in to the Scourge side of himself—to his urges. He would never treat a female like that—never force her to submit to him or hurt her intentionally. The very idea was abhorrent to him.

It made him think of the talk his Kindred uncle—the brother of his mother—had had with him when he was much younger—right after his man-hood rites so many years ago…

The two of them had been the last to leave the nearly empty grotto where the ceremony had taken place. As Sirex had been folding away the heavy turquoise pelt of the V’ranna he had killed to prove himself a man, his uncle Gelden had put a hand on his shoulder.

“We need to have a talk,” he’d said. “You’re old enough now to know how you came about.”

“How I came about? What do you mean?” Sirex hadn’t reached his full growth yet—he had looked up at the brother of his mother in surprise and confusion.

Gelden had given him a stern look.

“I mean the way you came to be born into a Kindred family on a Kindred world though you’re half Scourge.”

Sirex had lifted his chin.

“My mother has told me. She met a Scourge warrior on a trip she took to the Mother Ship. They fell in love and had me, but then he was wounded in a battle and had to be sent away to a distant Med Center in another galaxy. So she came back here, to Tranq Prime, to raise me.”

Gelden shook his head.

“That’s the sanitized version of the story. Have you never asked yourself how a Kindred woman and a Scourge male came to be in the same place at the same time so they even had a chance to ‘fall in love?’”