Nu should have had more discipline than this. The physical toughness often associated with his kind mandated a certain mental ability to endure. But one small slip of a female continued to erode his control. Over his own damned body!

He breathed deeply and tried to stop thinking about sex. His constant erection was more than uncomfortable, but embarrassing. By the stars, he hadn't been this out of control since he'd first discovered how to climax. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

His brother, Set, grinned. "That's the problem, idiot. You aren't taking. You don't understand what Anin needs."

"And you do?" Jealousy reared its head, an awkward emotion he hadn't felt in years, and never in conjunction with his brother. They'd shared women often, since both of them liked and disliked exactly the same things, with the exception of one person long ago...

"I do. If you would stop burying your head in the sand, you'd realise Anin needs it. She craves it like a drug."

It--submission.

Nu's head hurt. He hadn't been able to think of anything but domination, submission and sex with their newest 'guest' since he'd first laid eyes on her. Rescuing the shy woman from a torturous lab facility on planet Eyra a month ago had been one of the most satisfying things he'd ever done.

As bounty hunters aboard Mara's Light, he and Set often worked as the muscle when retrieving their bounties. A native of planet Ragga, from which the strongest men in the System were born, Nu had little difficulty subduing the criminals they went after. He and Set had yet to figure out which one of them was stronger, but they'd never been bested by any other male, with the exception of Anin's gigantic brother. And he didn't count.

Though Raggas were the largest and strongest of the races naturally born in the Vrail System, Eyran scientists had tampered with nature and made something not quite right--Creations--men and women designed with the blessed looks and attraction of Nebite pleasurers, the strength of Raggas and the skill of Mardu thieves. Enter Anin and her family.

"Hello, Nu?" Set snapped his fingers. "If you'd spoken to Erin like I told you to, this wouldn't be so difficult to understand."

"I'm not going to talk to Anin's sister about this." Nu flushed, wondering how in the hell he and Set had come from the same womb. "What should I say? That I jerk off constantly to images of Anin? That I want to do ... things ... to her that would make her cringe?"

"At least you admit it. And it's about time. I know what you like. Hell, we might as well be twins. We share everything, you drun. You think I don't know what you really want from Anin?"

"Yeah, well, then you should know calling me a shit isn't going to win you any points." He slugged Set in the stomach, encouraging their brawl even though he knew it would attract unwanted attention.

As if he'd summoned her, the ethereal creature appeared in the hallway, knocking him off balance enough to let Set manage a blow to his chest that stole his breath.

Anin exclaimed something and was suddenly beside him. Her hand covered his chest and he froze.

Staring down at the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life, Nu couldn't look away. Long, thick blue-black hair with hints of violet framed a goddess's face. She had full, red lips, a slim nose, high cheekbones, and eyes the colour of cobalt. Where the whites should have been pooled indigo seas, and in their midst sat pupils of gold. Her skin flushed as he stared, glittering with tan and pink lights. She seemed more alive than he'd ever seen her.

Her lips parted and she licked them with a tongue he wanted to capture in his mouth, to feel over his skin, to stroke his cock...

"Are you all right?" she spoke hesitantly, as she always did around him. With Set she laughed and occasionally smiled. But around Nu, she withdrew into herself, reinforcing his desire to be extra-gentle around her. Normally wary of encountering smaller females than himself, Nu took care to avoid Anin at all costs, lest he give in to this damning, nearly irresistible lust.

"Nu?" she asked again, her breasts lifting as she breathed in. She wore Set's overlarge shirt like a dress, which hit her knees and draped off one shoulder. Her curves taunted him. The growing outline of her nipples beckoned him to touch, to taste. He could rip that thin shirt off her in seconds, filling his hands with her full, ripe breasts. Stars, he wanted to taste her nipples, to see if they were as berry-red as her lips or as soft and pink as her cheeks.

"I'm fine," he rasped, hoarse with desire.

He didn't need her gaze down his body any more than he needed such lecherous thoughts for a woman who'd already been through so much.

She'd been built, literally, to serve. And serve she had. From what little he knew, Anin had been repeatedly raped by her Handler and abused by her Creator. She had a brother and sister, both Creations like her, humanoids with the combined genetics of several races in the System, designed illegally by Eyran scientists. If discovered, both Creation and Creator would be put to death. The Creations of old had started the War of 2845, where crazy, psychotic, man-made killers nearly wiped out the population of planet Eyra. Hell, years ago, Nu had happened upon one such abomination, finding dozens of body parts hanging in the fucking thing's ship. It had taken him and Set to kill the bastard, and they'd nearly died in the process.

Anin, he knew, was different. Abused and forced to serve her Handler's every whim, she had endured what no woman should. As part of a race that treasured females, Nu feared accidentally harming her whenever they neared, so angry at what had been done to her, at what he could never fix.

"Poor Nu." She stroked his chest, causing whorls of heat to race through his heart. "I don't like to see you in pain."

She slid her hand lower and shoved.

Shocked, Nu landed on his ass. Had she pushed him? Or had he been so off-balance by her nearness he'd stumbled back? He looked for Set and found his brother conveniently gone.