Page 81 of Journey to the Forbidden Zone

“Captain?” Mila’s voice was soft, closer now. “You’re shaking.”

“I’m fine,” Carmen snapped.

She tried to slot the connector. Missed. Tried again. Her breath hitched, ragged.

“Carmen, stop.”

That was the third time Mila had said her name. And every time it was a command.

“It’s time for you to let someone else take the burden,” Mila went on. “You’ve got nothing left. You’ve used up all the control you’ve got.”

No. How dare she?

“You don’t know shit about what I’ve got left,” Carmen spat. “You don’t know what I need.”

She tried to muscle her way past the Xena, but Mila put a hand on her shoulder. Her grip was like a vise. Carmen couldn’t break it. Mila drilled her with an emerald gaze that sent fire to Carmen’s loins.

“What you need,” the Xena Harimi whispered, her voice the very essence of command, “is to surrender. I’ve been observing you for days, Captain Díaz. I’ve watched as you’ve tried to control every detail, manage every problem, yourself.

“You can’t do it anymore. You’re spent. The situation is too large for you to handle by yourself. No one could deal with all this on their own.”

Carmen refused to listen. She wouldn’t let this woman who’d thrown her entire world into chaos tell her what she needed. She couldn’t!

“No, I?—”

“Quit fighting this, Carmen. Let go. Abandon your control, so you can be free.”

“Ineedcontrol!” Carmen cried.

Why couldn’t Mila understand that? Without control, the world disintegrated. Mistakes were made. Illegal aliens ended up in the cargo hold. Smuggling vessels got boarded by the COPS. Preventable mutinies murdered good captains.

“No, you need to surrender,” Mila said, her voice hard. “You’re overwhelmed, and you need to let go.”

“I—”

“You need me to take your little bitch-ass down and fuck you right here, right now – fuck you so hard, you scream loud enough for your cries to carry through the stars.”

Carmen’s eyes went wide. She’d never heard Mila curse before. And the things she’d said …

“Admit it,” Mila growled. “Admit you need me to fuck you, Carmen. Remember that Letitia’s right: you think better after you’ve been laid. Remember and tell me you need me to take your control. That you need to surrender.”

Surrender.

The word echoed in Carmen’s skull, resonant and terrifying. It wasn’t just about the connector. It was a key turning in a lock deep inside her.

“I …” she began.

“Admit it!” Mila snapped.

The sudden shout startled Carmen. She should have been scared, should have told Mila to get the hell off her.

Instead, her nipples hardened to diamonds beneath her dirty tank top. The sweet space between her legs flooded. And, God, the smell of those pheromones filled her mind, demanded the truth.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I admit it.”

All the coiled tension, the gnawing fear for Zed, the crushing weight of command, the weeks of denying the pull of this alien woman – it surged through Carmen in a white-hot wave. A choked sob escaped her, raw and unexpected. Her shoulders slumped, the rigid posture of the captain dissolving.

“Good girl,” Mila said.