Trinary (SCAR Force: Delta Faction Book 1) Read online

  Trinary

  SCAR Force: Delta Faction

  Gaja J. Kos

  TRINARY

  Copyright © 2019 by Gaja J. Kos

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by Merry-Book-Round

  Contents

  SCAR Force: Delta Faction reading order

  Vedrina Trinary System

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Gaja J. Kos

  S.V.

  Thanks for your handsome smile.

  SCAR Force: Delta Faction reading order

  Episode 1: Trinary

  Episode 2: Parallax

  Episode 3: Aphelion

  Episode 4: Vortex

  Episode 5: Equinox

  Episode 6: Nova

  Vedrina Trinary System

  Atropa planetary system

  Var

  Taran

  Mes

  Velonia

  Lahezis planetary system

  Pyron

  Crodone (habitable moons: Deva, Naru, Vida)

  Maras

  Kloto planetary system

  Nemis

  Krug

  Kirnis

  Yaro

  Volis

  Chapter One

  “SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN SECONDS.”

  My head slammed against the curved edge of the nevon shelf protruding over the cot I’d collapsed in what felt like only a measly couple of hours earlier.

  “NINE SECONDS.”

  Pain lanced through me like a motherfucker, but it was nothing compared to the vicious hammering of my heart as that damned electronic voice continued the countdown. The tone and volume were different from what I was used to aboard the Devious, but if the asshole were messing with the commands, I wasn’t at all surprised about the discrepancy. Who knew what he’d rewired and tweaked.

  “Carrow!” I shouted and propelled myself down the brightly lit silvery-white hallway towards the bridge.

  “EIGHT SECONDS.”

  “What the fuck are you doing, man?” I sprinted around the final corner, my bare feet tapping against the ship’s almost too-cold nevon ground. “Carrow!”

  A grunt was the only answer I received. I swore and ran through the translucent sliding doors that opened automatically as I approached. I hurtled forward, then caught myself on the small but sturdy long-distance comm unit sticking out of the right-hand wall. My sweaty fingers squeaked as I gripped it harder.

  “The fuck…”

  “SEVEN SECONDS.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up, you useless wreck,” Carrow grumbled, hunched over a piece of equipment that could only generously be called a robot. His dark blond hair jutted in every possible direction, a dark sweat stain spreading down the back of his gray T-shirt.

  “SIX SECONDS.”

  He slammed a heavy hand against the bot’s off-white head.

  “I told him to the leave the damn thing alone,” a sultry voice said from behind.

  I spun around and met Donovan’s amused gaze. Clad from head to toe in trademark black with that infuriatingly touchable wavy night-dark hair to match, he looked nothing like a man on the verge of getting caught in a self-destruct blast.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I thrust an arm out in Carrow’s direction. “That damn thing is about to self-destruct, and you’re laughing about it?”

  “He’ll figure it out.” Donovan shrugged, then flashed me one of his disarming grins that were the key reason the man never went to bed alone unless he wanted to. No one in the Atropa system was immune to Donovan Frost’s charms. Not even me.

  “THREE SECONDS.”

  I arched an eyebrow and shuffled my bare feet. “You wanna bet on that before he blows us all up?”

  With a smirk, Donovan leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, showing off all the fine-toned muscles I knew by heart. He wasn’t even paying attention to the catastrophe just waiting to happen in the middle of the bridge. Nope. His gaze roamed down my body as if it were the only thing that mattered right now. A corner of his lips curved up.

  Right.

  I’d left my wavesuit crumpled at the foot of the bed and had rushed out in nothing but my underwear. The thin white material fitted me like second skin, revealing more than it concealed since it was designed to be as unobtrusive as possible beneath the suit I always flew in.

  “ONE SECOND.”

  “Wishing you could have fucked me one last time?” I drawled.

  I should probably be running as far away from the bridge as the Devious allowed. Maybe even get the hell out of the hangar if my legs worked fast enough. But damn, Donovan’s dark gaze kept me pinned to the spot, his easy yet predatory demeanor turning the possibly fatal countdown into no more than an afterthought.

  “I think I’ll get to do that tonight.” He tipped his head towards Carrow’s still-crouched form.

  “SELF-DESTRUCT ABORTED. REBOOTING SYSTEM IN FIVE…”

  “Ass,” I muttered under my breath—earning myself a low chuckle—and padded over to see what Carrow had done. Or smack him on the head.

  Maybe both.

  But when he looked up at me with a triumphant, almost childish grin on his tanned face, the most I did was roll my eyes. “Thanks for the wake-up call, asshole.”

  His grin turned sheepish—but definitely not repentant.

  “A minor glitch. Sorry about that.” He tapped the crude-looking robot with the back of his morph-wrench. “But this darling will soon be operational.”

  “And we need it why?” I crossed my arms and shifted from foot to foot. Fuck, it was cold. But Carrow and heat didn’t mix when he was working.

  Donovan walked up beside me. When his knuckles brushed against my bare thigh, a different kind of goose bumps skittered down my skin. “Because he believes it’ll save him from cleaning up his shit.”

  I snickered even as Carrow’s outraged voice rose. “Hey now, that’s not true. Okay, maybe a little—it has been designed as a multifunctional device, you know.”

  Donovan and I exchanged an exaggerated look.

  “It’s old technology, Cairo.” He pointed his wrench at Donovan when the man chuckled. “You shut up. You were the one who brought it to me in the first place.”

  I whirled on the traitor and smacked his hard chest. “Seriously, Don?” He flinched at the hated nickname. “You know how Carrow gets when you bring him junk.”

  “She’s not junk,” Carrow piped up. Apparently, he was past the useless wreck phase. “She was used in the High Age.”

  “So?” I rubbed my hands down my arms as the overly eager air-con continued to leach out my warmth.

  The High Age was when most of the cities on our tidally locked Taran were built. The radiation was basically murderous before, the planet barely livable. But the High Age had brought brilliant engineers who were able to figure out how to block Atropa’s radiation and
create an environment that wouldn’t wreck our bodies. Fast forward a century and a half and here we were, walking around without the need for cumbersome suits or dreary shelters.

  Though still far from free of environmental concerns.

  But that’s what you get with a population as big as ours.

  “So,” Carrow mimicked me but couldn’t keep it up as triumph crept across his features, “she should still have all the schematics uploaded.”

  That shut me up. I followed his finger to the small serial number on the bot’s side and the company name listed right beneath. Voltage Inc.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” I whispered.

  Both men gave me smug expressions. I rolled my eyes, then dropped to a crouch beside Carrow to examine his latest love. Crude, like I suspected, but while part of it was due to the sheer age of this little old-timer, the rest was because of the materials used. Nothing but sturdy, modified metal to withstand any incidents on a construction site. Fire-resistant, water-resistant, and dent-proof. Nothing short of several minutes of rapid-fire or a damn bomb could destroy it. It must have cost a fortune back in the day before nevon was discovered and made mass production possible.

  I glanced up at Donovan. “Where did you get this thing?”

  While our skills were versatile, it was Carrow who usually tracked down equipment—and had open communication with the black market as well as several contacts who could tell him where and when to be for the best payout. Donovan, though hands-on when the situation required it, was the expert in organizing our heists and covering our tracks. That he stumbled upon such a find…

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he drawled.

  “Try me.”

  Carrow chuckled. “No, really, you wouldn’t.”

  That, of course, only piqued my interest. Precisely what Donovan wanted. But I wasn’t playing right now.

  “Fine.” I rose. “Don’t tell me if you don’t want to.”

  Without giving him a chance to reply, I marched back through the sliding doors and down the hallway to the room I’d spent the night in—at least what little of it had been left once I flew to the hangar, my hull filled with merch we’d sell in a week’s time. It had taken the three of us well over an hour just to unload everything, and by the time we were done, I hadn’t had the energy to fly back home.

  I slammed my palm against the sensor to retract the vicious little shelf responsible for the bump on my head, then grabbed my wavesuit from the foot of the bed and straightened it over the sheets. It looked a little worse for wear, but since I had no desire to hunt down new clothes all the way over on the other end of the Devious, it would have to do. I bent over and looked under the bed for my boots and vambraces. Just as my fingers wrapped around the closest one, fingers that were definitely not mine wrapped around my hips.

  Chapter Two

  “Donovan…”

  “Don’t move.” His voice was quiet, but the command it carried clear. His fingertips dug lightly into my skin. “You look good, Cairo.”

  I squeezed my thighs against the heat pooling between them. Not that it mattered. As Donovan started dragging down my panties, he made sure to slip his thumbs between my clenched thighs—forcing them apart just a little.

  A teasing gesture that left me wet, knowing what was to come.

  “You know what to do,” he said as the panties reached my ankles.

  I stepped out of them without even thinking about it. Donovan wasted no time bringing his hands back up, exploring the exact sensitive line he’d played with earlier.

  “RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS FOR ERRORS.”

  “You didn’t shut the door?” I gasped and started to turn around, but Donovan kept me in place with a touch of firm pressure.

  “Carrow will be busy with his new love for a while longer.” He traced a single finger along my wet, hot core. “Now, Cairo, grab your ankles and enjoy the ride.”

  “I know you two are fucking, but you should really come see this,” Carrow shouted.

  I jerked up, but Donovan shoved me right back down. I groaned—then moaned as he slipped his thumb inside while holding me in position with his free hand.

  “You’re such an ass, Donovan,” I hissed, but the words lacked any true venom. If anything, they sounded like a damn compliment even to my ears.

  His thumb drew teasing circles that weakened my damn knees.

  “Go on.” He chuckled. “You know I like your dirty mouth.”

  Memories of just how much he loved said mouth flashed through me. I licked my lips, thinking of a clever comeback when, faster than my mind could follow, he slipped out his thumb and thrust his cock inside me as deep as he could go.

  I cried out, open door be damned.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Carrow said somewhere in the distance. “Not again.”

  But the words hardly registered as Donovan slammed into me again. And again.

  He yanked my torso up and maneuvered us against the wall beside the cot. I braced my hands against the cool nevon as he drew back my hips and tilted them to give himself even greater access.

  Shit, he felt good.

  His thick cock grazed my walls and stirred sensations that had me quaking. It was all I could do to keep myself upright. To writhe against him in a desperate plea for more.

  With one hand, Donovan reached around to play with my clit. His lips found the nape of my neck right as I moaned under the weight of the pulsing heat building up inside my core. He stilled inside me and planted a trail of kisses down my spine. All the while, his fingers worked relentlessly, bringing me towards my orgasm so quickly, so violently, I clawed at the damn wall.

  I came with a shattered cry, but before the wave of release had a chance to ebb, Donovan straightened and secured his hands firmly on my hips.

  He held me in place as he fucked me, the angle making me feel every inch of his length and girth. The slap of our bodies filled the small room, followed by Donovan’s grunts as my muscles contracted around his shaft. Fuck. Another orgasm built up inside me. Donovan offered me no reprieve. He made me come on his cock, then rode out the orgasm to the very last wave, his grip on my hips bruising as I felt him hold back his own release.

  When I was done, when my mind reeled from the overload of pleasure, Donovan pulled out of me. I gasped at the sudden absence and swayed a little, but he flipped me around with firm, unyielding pressure, and forced me to my knees. The instant they hit the floor, I parted my lips and took in his cock.

  His dark eyes bored into mine as I sucked him.

  “Fuck, Cairo,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “That’s it.”

  I increased the pressure on that last stroke.

  Then kept on blowing him until his cock gave off a warning throb. Donovan spilled into my mouth. I ran my lips along his length again, refusing to let anything go to waste.

  And to tease him just a little.

  Donovan shuddered, then looked at me with heavy-lidded eyes. “Told you I liked that dirty mouth.” He lifted me to my feet and ran his thumb along my bottom lip. “No one can make me come quite like you do.”

  My mind still dazed, I couldn’t think of a single comeback. The corners of Donovan’s lips flicked up, and he leaned in. Our kiss was slow, exploratory, and ended with my back flush against the wall, Donovan’s larger frame trapping me from the front.

  “Okay, I know you’re done now,” Carrow shouted. “So get the fuck out here, okay? I’ve got something to show you.”

  It was an effort to step away from Donovan, but somehow I managed to place my hands on his chest and gently shove him back. He swept in for one last kiss, then moved aside and pulled up his pants. I went in search of my own. Once dressed, we left the tiny room that still smelled like sex behind. Donovan went ahead to the bridge while I made a quick detour to the bathroom. My bladder thanked me deeply, and I really didn’t mind the chance to splash some water into my face in hopes of fading some of the damn blush.

  Once I deemed myself passable, I guzz
led down a glass of water and joined the guys. The old-timer robot whirled around the floor, apparently checking if everything still worked, while the two men chatted in voices too low for me to make out from this distance.

  “Conspiracy?” I quirked one eyebrow and braced a shoulder against the wall. The doors slid silently shut behind me.

  They both turned. Donovan gave me an appreciative once-over, though I knew it wasn’t the gray-and-black wavesuit he was seeing but remembering what rested beneath, while Carrow boasted a grin that could only mean he’d struck gold. Of course, in his case, that could be anything from landing us a fat payday to finding old junk he was far too eager to restore.

  I glanced at the round-headed bot that narrowly evaded slamming into the pilot’s seat.

  Carrow called it to him, then motioned me over.

  “Our little friend here I like to call Lucinda has something to show you.” He dropped into a crouch and put an arm around the robot’s bulky, limbless body. I snorted and crossed my arms. “Go on, Lucinda. Pull up Zone 3 schematics.”

  After a few whirls and clicks, the top half of the orb that served as the robot’s head pulled back to reveal a tiny projector. It powered up and displayed an interactive hologram, which was actually incredibly decent given how old the equipment was.

  “Is that…” I blinked and leaned closer, scanning the detailed schematics. “You’re shitting me, right?”

  Chapter Three

  Carrow’s satisfaction suffused the cool air as all I could do was stare at the schematics.