Deceived Read online

  “Sure they do,” Dark told her softly. “I dreamed of you, before I came here. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but now I know I was supposed to find you. Supposed to take you away from that fucking Gorn and this horrible place and bring you home safely.”

  “Really?” Anna bit her lip. “I…I dreamed of you, too. So many times!”

  “The Goddess meant for us to be together,” Dark told her softly. “She set us apart for each other and once we get out of here, we’ll be together forever—if you still want to, after…” He cleared his throat. “After all this is over.”

  “Of course I want to! Oh, Dark…” She kissed him happily and snuggled close, feeling like her heart was bursting with love. Who cared if he wasn’t real? This love felt real and that was enough for her, Anna told herself.

  “Mmm, love holding you naked in my arms,” Dark murmured. “If you’re not careful, I’ll be wanting to heal you all over again.”

  “You know,” Anna remarked, smiling, “Any other guy who could give a girl instant orgasms just by biting her might have slacked off on his, uh, oral technique, if you know what I mean. But you seem to have worked on yours. I mean, not that anyone has ever, uh, tasted me before but you seem to be really good at it.”

  “That’s because I fucking love it,” Dark growled. “Come on, baby, why don’t you let me prove it again? And I’ll bite you too, if you want—just let me taste you first.”

  Anna couldn’t say no to such a delicious offer and, as Dark spread her legs to go down on her a second time, she thought she had never felt so happy…

  “So, I want you to stay out of sight as much as possible,” Dark said, drawing her out of her reverie and back to the present where they were standing together in the kitchen, waiting for Gorn to come home. “I’ll meet him at the door with the ‘special’ drink and lead him to the table to start serving Last Meal immediately.”

  “He always insists that I have dinner with him,” Anna objected. “He’ll think something is wrong if I don’t show.”

  “Well…” Dark frowned. “We don’t know how long it will take for the sleeping medication to take effect but hopefully not long. I guess it will probably be all right for you to sit at the table with him. But if he tries anything—anything at all—”

  “I’ll call for you,” Anna promised and she really meant it this time. They had a plan to get away and she had faith that Dark could save her, even thought he was a Replicant.

  “All right.” He nodded, apparently satisfied. “The minute he nods off, I’ll get the key from around his neck, unlock the trophy room, switch the crystals, and the two of us will be out of here in his ship before he wakes up.”

  “Where will we go?” Anna asked. “Will you take me back to the mining colony?”

  “Well, the Mother Ship will be folding space for us so we have to go there first,” Dark told her. “But you can call your parents from there and let them know you’re okay.”

  “And I’ll tell them we’re staying together, too,” Anna told him. She knew she might get some odd looks from her family when she announced she wanted to spend the rest of her life with a Replicant, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to be with Dark forever.

  “That sounds perfect to me.” Dark smiled, but she thought she detected a hint of worry in his sharp features.

  “Hey—is everything okay?” she asked, touching his arm. “You…you do want to stay together, don’t you? That’s all we’ve been talking about all week.”

  “Of course, I do, baby.” He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. When he drew back, the look in his bronze eyes was intense. “That’s all I want—for us to be together,” he murmured. “I love you, Anna. When all this is over, please believe that and hold onto it. I love you.”

  “Wow…” She let out a shaky little laugh, surprised and a little concerned at his intensity. He must think I’ll change my mind about being with a Replicant once I get back to my parents and my normal life again, she thought.

  Wanting to reassure him, she cupped his cheek and looked into his eyes. “I love you too, Dark,” she told him. “So much that nothing—nothing—could ever make me stop loving you.”

  “Nothing? Do you swear that?” he asked.

  “I swear it,” Anna said. “Dark, what is this about? Are you worried about something? About our plan?”

  He shook his head. “No, I think the plan is pretty airtight—barring any unforeseen complications. It’s just, well…there’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve been trying to tell you for a while now but—”

  Just then the front door of the house opened with a booming thud.

  “Pretty boy!” roared a familiar voice. “Where’s my dinner? I’m fucking hungry!”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Of all the bad, fucking timing! Dark thought, as he hurried out to the front of the house, holding a tray with the doctored drink on it. He had been just about to tell Anna the truth about himself and after the way things had been going in the kitchen, he was almost certain she would forgive him for his deception.

  I love you, he had imagined telling her. Not because I’m programmed to—because of who you are. Because you’re beautiful and brave and resilient and intelligent and amazing. I love you for yourself, Anna—and I hope you can feel the same for me.

  He’d been working up to telling her the entire week they’d spent alone together. It had been blissful with no Gorn to bother them. Dark had cooked every delicacy in his considerable repertoire for her and they had slept in each other’s arms every night after he tasted her and bit her and gave her multiple orgasms—both with his tongue and his fangs.

  It had been too blissful, Dark admitted to himself. He should have come out and told her everything early on, but he hadn’t wanted to interrupt their bliss and risk losing her. So every day he had put it off, and every day it got a little harder to admit the truth. And now his admission that he wasn’t a Replicant but a real male—with real male equipment—would have to wait until the ride home

  He just hoped that Anna had meant it when she said she nothing could ever make her stop loving him—not even the fact that he’d basically been lying to her from the minute they first met.

  “I want dinner!” Gorn was bellowing as Dark came up to him. The huge Trollox had just come in the front door and thrown off his traveling cloak—which was an ugly mustard yellow and dark purple plaid—and he was stomping around, looking both angry and hungry.

  Hangry—that’s what Anna called that emotion, Dark thought, frowning. I’ll need to feed him quickly to keep him quiescent.

  Come to think of it though, the fact that the big Trollox had an empty stomach might work to their advantage. Hopefully it would make the sleeping drug Dark had laced his drink with act even faster.

  “Hello, Master—welcome home,” he said evenly, as he came up to Gorn. What he wanted to do was slit the big bastard’s throat and take him apart piece by piece for the way he had hurt Anna. But he knew he couldn’t do that, despite how much he hungered for revenge. The High Council didn’t want a blood feud with the Trollox people so no matter what else happened, Gorn had to live.

  “Hello, pretty boy!” Gorn’s left head roared as he looked down at Dark. “You seem to have survived your time in the punishment box all right.”

  “I managed,” Dark said evenly. “Though I have no wish to repeat the experience. Here you are, Master.”

  He handed the fizzing drink with its many rainbow liquors layered in shimmering splendor in the clear crystal glass. It was a gorgeous drink, if he said so himself—and hopefully tempting enough that Gorn would drink it without comment.

  The left head seemed ready enough to do just that but as Gorn swept the offered glass up off the tray with his left hand, the right head squinted suspiciously.

  “What’s this?” it hissed, frowning at the many-layered drink. “What have you brought us, pretty boy?”

  “It’s a specialty drink I learned to make