Author's Note: Okay, don't be mad at me. The characters were being jackasses and my muses left me and sniffles then my stupid boyfriend dumped me…. Which lead to an all-night Riddick marathon so I could drool over Vin Diesel and forget what's-his-face. So… Forgive the delay and please do your wonderful reader thing and review! Mwas!!!

Chapter Seven: Jack's Private December

Frontier Augustus

Jack looked at him as he scented her, then the brief flash of devastation in his eyes. She wasn't sure what was going on, why she had seen him look so hurt, so destroyed. She suddenly felt uncertain.

"Jack, how many children are on this tour?"

She frowned, more confused than before. "Eight. Alex, Isabella, Musciaa, Melody, Annabella, Sean, Blake, and Jared."

He sniffed her again, his face moving down her neck. "Who belongs to who?"

"Sean and Blake are Mario's, Musicaa, Annabella, and Melody belong to two of the techs, I think it's Abrahm and Gavriella. Jared is a 'stray' we all adopted. Alex and Isabella are mine."

He stiffened. "Yours?"

She nodded, her eyes going vague at the memory as she smiled softly. "I adopted Izzy when she was just a baby. Just days old. Alex was three and wanted a baby sister so badly for Christmas. I wanted a baby to hold again."

"A… dopted?"

She looked away, unable and unwilling to admit that she had tried to sleep with another man, but had messed up, had felt inadequate, unaroused. "Yes, adopted."

He eased her down the wall, but didn't let her go. He held her, instead. Held her like she had craved eight years ago after their disastrous tryst. Possessively, tightly.

She felt her will power snap. She lifter her hands to cradle his face before brushing her lips against his.

x-x-x-x-x-x-

He shuddered. Could it all still be there? He could remember vividly how powerful he felt when he had been buried in her, suckling at her breasts as he swelled…

He caught her mouth, gently chewing her lower lip before kissing her deeply. She was the only thing in the universe that made complete sense, the only existence that he couldn't bear to think about being extinguished.

She moaned when he ran his finger down her zippered bodice. Supple leather that molded to her flesh like it wasn't even there. The kind of black leather that was part body armor and part seduction. And she had always rocked his world when it came to seduction.

No woman had satisfied him since her. He could move in a woman for hours, making her scream countless times, but it meant nothing to him because it wasn't her. He couldn't remember the last time he'd tried to cum in another woman, a fruitless exercise because something about her had taken away his pleasure in woman's flesh, unless it was her.

Was this love or obsession, he wondered. Did it matter what it was as long as she was there, with him, her flesh molding to his body even through their clothes?

"Riddick," she breathed, her breasts heaving in leather that barely contained them. If he'd ever seen a more erotic, more sensual sight, he couldn't recall it.

"Jack. My Jack."

She moaned again and his lips went down her neck, nipping and reacquainting himself with her taste. Oh, he would never tell her how much he had missed that lemon, rosemary, and vanilla scent of hers.

But now, it was better, so much better. She tasted adult, tasted like a mother. There was the taste of milk and honey, lemon and rosemary, vanilla and cinnamon. She was more delicious now than she had been eight years ago.

It was unbelievable. He had always heard that some things tasted better if you had them rarely, but he had never believed it until this moment.

And this moment, the only thing that made sense was her, the only thing he wanted was to surge into her so deep that she forgot her own name...

But never forgot his.

Make her scream, the beast roared for the first time in ages. He had felt almost empty without the constant urgings of his primative side. Make her remember that Alphas are forever. She left you, left us. Abandoned us. Lied to us. Denied us our child. Our child! Punish her. Make her hitari-kna-freozki and make her accept it. Tie her to us.

Riddick shuddered at the mental visuals going on behind his closed lids. She was already against a wall. It would be so simple to cut the leather off her body.

"No."

He opened his eyes at that one word. "What?"

"I said no. We're not doing this. You're not fuckin' me and runnin' again, Riddick. I'm not going through it again. Besides, you're the only one who gets something from it."

He cursed under his breath, barely where he could hear it. He had completely fucked up the first time and, eight years later, he was still gonna fuckin' pay for it.

"Jack, what happened back then was-"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Both of them looked at the ship's door.

"Were you expecting someone, Jack?" he asked possessively.

"Only Alex and Izzy. Were you expecting someone, Riddick?"

"Only you."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Richard!!! Get out here!!!" came a lightly accented voice from outside. Jack's eyes went deadly.

"Oh, really, Richard? Then you won't mind me playing Who's The Better Killer, now will you?"

He gritted his teeth. "Actually, in this instance, despite how tempting it is, you can't."

"Why?"

"Because, that's my cargo."

Jack froze.

x-x-x-x-x-x-

Oh, God. This really are worse than I thought. He's a slave trafficker... How did this happen!?