Lost Star by Hawke, Morgan (digital book reader .TXT) 📕

ship. The captain found me, but I crashed the ship and he’s dead. She came here to free me, and to die.” Aubrey’s body shook as the sobs came tumbling out. “She killed herself for me. Everybody dies because of me.”

“Aubrey, stop.” Seht sat up and caught Aubrey’s shoulders, trapping his gaze.

“Listen to me. You did not kill those ship crews.”

Aubrey shivered in Seht’s grasp. “It was my program—”

Seht shook his head. “That you did not willingly give.”

Aubrey sucked in a small breath. “No, I didn’t.”

Seht’s gaze hardened. “Think. If my brother were to beat me to the ground and take my gun from my hands, and then he went out and killed a hundred people with it, is it my fault that they died?”

Aubrey stilled. “No.”

Seht raised his brow. “Whose fault was it?”

Aubrey’s brows dipped. “Your brother’s.”

Seht pursed his lips and tilted his head. “Say that he returns the gun to my hands, but then he wants to use it again. Say also that I refuse to let him have it, because I know that he intends to harm others with it, but he takes it from me anyway and kills more people with it. Is it my fault those people died?”

Aubrey frowned. “No, you didn’t shoot them.”

Seht raised his brow. “Nor did you.”

Aubrey opened his mouth.

Seht pressed a hand to his lips. “No, Aubrey. You said no, and you fought to stop them. You did not win your fights, but you did not use that weapon to kill those people.

The weapon was not in your control.”

Aubrey scowled. “It wasn’t supposed to be a weapon!”

Seht rolled his eyes. “In the hands of a skilled assassin, a sheet of paper can be a deadly weapon.”

Aubrey’s brows shot up. “A sheet of paper?”

Interstellar Service & Discipline: Lost Star

37

Seht smiled. “Remind me to show you sometime.” His brows lifted. “Now, who really killed all those ship crews? Who chose which ships to use that weapon on?”

Aubrey felt a knot of white-hot hate enfold his heart. “Moribund. He was the one that pulled me from my ship and killed everyone else. He ordered me sent to the airlock because I told him I’d rather die.”

“Did you now?” Seht tilted his head. “That is who was after you, is it not? Those were his men.”

Aubrey nodded and scowled. “The captain said that I’m Moribund’s most valuable possession.”

Seht smiled. “I should think so. Your program made it possible to steal a great many ships. Without you, he will have to go back to his original method.” He raised a brow. “What I do not understand is why he did not simply make a copy of your program and then kill you?”

Aubrey winced. “He probably has a copy, not that it will do him any good. The program is in my personal coding language.” He glanced away. “When I was a kid, I got hacked into at school.” He shook his head. “It was for some stupid homework assignment, but it pissed me off, so I invented a coding language of my own. I store everything in it. It switches to normal coding when it’s activated, but without the keys, it won’t activate. That’s what Niobe was doing. When she…” He took a breath and released it. “They mapped me and found where the keys were stored, but they couldn’t activate them. She would…make me cum, and it would trigger the keys.” He shrugged.

“I still don’t know why it worked, but it did.”

Seht nibbled on his full bottom lip. “Climax is a full-body release. It may be as simple as that. When your body released tension, so did your mind.”

Aubrey raised a brow. “How did you get so good at explaining stuff?”

Seht smiled. “When you are blamed for a great many things, you eventually learn how to rationalize just about everything.” He leaned closer. “My uncle claims that arguing with me is like arguing with a bulkhead.”

“I can see the similarities.” Aubrey smiled. “My dad used to tell me I was too smart for my own good.”

Seht snorted. “I can definitely see the similarities there.”

Aubrey sighed. “So, now what do we do?”

“Now?” Seht closed his arms around Aubrey and pulled him down onto his chest.

“Now, we sleep.” He pulled the blanket up over them. “Hopefully you will rest this time.”

Aubrey frowned at him. “You still want me to sleep on top of you?”

“Definitely.” He closed one arm around Aubrey’s waist and set the other under his head. “You may sleep under me next time.”

38

Morgan Hawke

Aubrey pulled his hands in. He was too exhausted to fight anymore. “If there is a next time.” He took a deep breath and coughed, and coughed. He leaned over Seht’s side to spit the blood from his mouth.

“Aubrey, do you wish to live?” Seht’s voice was very soft.

Aubrey stared at the blood on the ground. “I can’t afford to let Moribund get me again.”

“I have a way to save your life and keep Moribund from ever touching you again.

Do you want it?”

Aubrey settled against Seht’s heart. “What? A mind-wipe?” He considered it. It would stop Moribund from killing people, but everything he was would go with it. “I don’t want my mind wiped. Better to just kill me. I don’t think I could live with an empty head.”

Seht took a deep breath. “No, I will not wipe your mind. You could stay with my people, with me.”

Aubrey yawned. “As what? What could I do for your people? I don’t even know the language.”

Seht rubbed his palm across Aubrey’s back. “As my personal consort.”

Consort? Aubrey frowned. “Is that like, your lover?”

“Yes, and my friend. You would be part of my household.”

Aubrey turned to look at Seht. “You’re serious?”

Seht winced. “Is the idea of being my lover so awful?”

Aubrey thought about it. Seht was certainly attractive enough. His dick was still hard. Seht seemed to genuinely like him, and he liked