“You don’t have to carry me.”
“Shush. No one thinks you’re weak. You’re injured, more than you let on to us earlier.”
“No, I—”
“Relax, Lynx will choose a campsite and we’ll rest until light.”
“We s-should be able to w-walk more during the early whitelight, before it g-gets too hot.” The words dragged across the tip of the tongue, digging in heels. She persevered, pushing, pushing, pushing each syllable free until her sentence ended. Finally, exhausted she closed her eyes. No! She mustn’t fall asleep.
“Sleep,” Shiloh whispered. “I’ve got you.”
But she didn’t want him to get her. He belonged to Lynx. They would be mates, and it was fitting. The two complemented each other—both strong and sure. Longtime friends, they were already partners. Taking a step further to mates wouldn’t bring much of a change.
Couldn’t get in the middle.
Might cause a fight.
Not the time for romance, for sex, for flirtation of any sort, no matter how much she admired their bodies and minds, craved their attention.
A prickle knifed through her gut and Jannike heard herself whimper.
“See any place suitable?” Shiloh asked.
“A big pile of rocks ahead. Won’t be long,” Lynx said.
Jannike quivered and turned her face to breathe in more of Shiloh’s scent. One whiff and the itching subsided to a low-level hum. Oh goddess. Blissful relief.
Jannike’s mind quieted and she forced herself to take even, steady breaths instead of great gulps. If she could spend longer in his arms or Lynx’s arms. Either would do.
She suppressed the immediate urge to sigh.
Not gonna happen.
“Jannike. Jannike, wake up. We’re at camp.”
The husky rumble was a pleasant way to rouse, and much better than the rooster-bird call that Nanu, the Indy’s pilot and engineer, had rigged to help them rise from their sleep-beds each cycle beginning. Another idea taken from Earth. Life aboard the Indy was so different now that Camryn had joined the crew. Improved, she decided.
“Jannike?”
“I’m awake,” she said. “You sound much better than the rooster-bird.”
“A compliment?” Laughter rippled through his voice, and a different sort of quiver fluttered to her sex.
She tensed, began to struggle.
“Stop wriggling or I’ll drop you on your arse.”
She halted but every particle in her mind wanted to leap from his touch. Her body had other ideas.
After a long, extended sec he eased her down. Their bodies jostled in the process and sudden knowledge drummed into her brain.
Danger, Jannike Hondros! Danger.
If the spike in Shiloh’s pants wasn’t attached to his person, then she was an ape’s uncle.
Gasping in a girly manner, she yanked from his touch and scrambled backward. In the blacklight his features were indistinguishable, but she heard his huff of impatience.
“It’s a hard-on, Jannike. A male gets them. Deal with it.”
A splutter of laughter came from Lynx who stood beside a gaping Kelvin.
“I get them too,” Lynx added, in the manner of one offering advice.
“Keep them away from me. I’m…I’m…not used to that sort of thing.” The sec she’d uttered the words, she wanted to yank them back. Kaya would roar with laughter if she’d overheard that particular gem. A tiny snigger bubbled at the back her mind. Ridiculous, Jannike.
“Let me treat your wounds then we’ll leave you to rest,” Lynx said.
“No!” If anything, her panic escalated while her hormones, in concert with her body, rioted for progress in this touching business. “No, I don’t need either of you touching me. You’re both tired too. Give me our medical supplies and I’ll take care of my ouchies.”
Lynx’s brows winged upward. “Ouchies?”
“My translator doesn’t know this word,” Shiloh said.
“Earth speak,” Jannike blurted. “Camryn…I…we…never mind. I will fix the sore spots.”
“I will help her before I take root,” Kelvin boomed.
“Yes.” Another blurt. Could she monkey a nitwit any better? Might be ape—she couldn’t recall the order of the animals right now. “Yes, that’s fine. You and Shiloh need to rest. Together. Away from us.” Jannike buttoned her lips and bowed her head. Goddess! She clenched her hands and slowed her breathing. No, no, no! Lynx stood too close. She needed to remove herself from his airspace before her traitorous body decided to test for spikes in his pants.
“We know when we’re not wanted,” Shiloh said.
“You’ll want privacy.” Jannike rushed the words. “To do things.”
Lynx cocked his head. “What kind of things?”
“Touching. Sex things. I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I know nothing. Don’t do sex. Don’t want it. Go, go.” She made frantic shoo motions with her hands, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe past the knifelike stabs in her stomach.
Shiloh grasped Lynx’s hand. “We’ll set up camp on the other side of those rocks. Shout if you need us.”
Jannike held her breath until the men passed beyond her scent range. When their footsteps receded, and they’d blended with the blacklight, her shoulders sagged.
“Lass. You’re in trouble. You need those two males. The lack is affecting your health.”
Jannike peered into the blacklight, her heart galloping like a hell-horse after meat. Had they heard? Kelvin had spoken in an undertone. When neither of the felines reappeared, her tension subsided. “No, I don’t have a problem, not apart from a few hot spots on my arms where the dragon fire burned through my tunic.”
“Lie to yourself, but you’re not fooling me.” Kelvin shook his head enough to stir his hair. It made a rustling sound, a peaceful brushing and stirring of hair strands.
Jannike sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. Those two are mates, and I mustn’t get into the middle. It will cause trouble.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“No, but my educated guess tells me to stay away. I’d appreciate your help. I’m so tired I can barely lift my arms. Shouldn’t be this tired. Always training to keep up fitness. Ry makes sure we stay fighting fit.”
“This cycle has tried us all. Maybe the next will be less eventful.”
“Maybe.”
Jannike unfastened the laces closing the neckline of her tunic and grasped the hemline to tug the garment over her head. Grim determination allowed her to complete the chore. She was breathing hard once she dropped her arms to her sides.
“The supplies are in my bag.” Kelvin referred to the improvised carrier they’d fashioned from their blankets. “Spread your blanket and sit ye down on a soft spot of sand.”
Jannike chose a place at the base of a huge rock, sheltered from the prevailing wind, although it wouldn’t do much to stave off the cold. “This will do.”
Once she’d settled, Kelvin knelt at her side.
“The right side of my body is worst.”
“The heal-gel will take away the heat and promote healing.”
A sigh gusted from her when the gel hit her skin, the coolness relieving the burning sensation. Gentle fingers rubbed in the gel. It shouldn’t have hurt. Logic told her this, but a screech rippled free. A pained gasp.
Kelvin’s hand jerked from her body and the fiery needles firing her synapses receded.
Footsteps thumped around the corner of the rocks and Lynx and Shiloh arrived. Their eyes glinted, catching the faint light. When no danger presented, they strode the remaining distance.
“What is it?” Lynx demanded.
“What’s wrong?” Shiloh asked.
The two felines stood shoulder to shoulder, prepared to act on her behalf. The feminine part of her sighed and cooed. The warrior part—her brain—tensed until each muscle grew rock hard. She winced when Lynx moved a step closer.
“My touch p
ained her. Took her by surprise.” Kelvin handed over the heal-gel to Lynx. “Maybe ye fingers will be softer on her burns.”
“No,” Jannike said.
“Ye need this, lass,” Kelvin boomed and stood aside.
She screwed her eyes shut, her pulse choppy and loud enough for them to hear with their kitty senses.
“Phrull it, Jannike. We didn’t realize it was this bad. You have red patches on your arm and your torso.” Lynx fingered one spot.
She winced at the spark of pleasure that shot down her body.
“Give me the gel,” Shiloh said. “If we both do this, the job will get done quicker.”
No. No. No!
The denial sang through her mind. This won’t take long. Not long. Not long.
Wait…red marks on her torso. They weren’t there before. The dragon fire had scorched her right arm, and that was all. This meant…this meant the mating urges had entered her system. No wonder she was so jumpy.
She attempted to recall events with Ry and Camryn. Camryn had fought the mating, but Ry had kissed her, fukked her early on, which obviously must make the process different.
Goddess, she had to keep fighting.
“How much longer?” she asked in a low voice.
“A few mins,” Lynx said.
“You’ve been scratching them,” Shiloh chided. “Don’t. That’s the easiest way for infection to take a grip.”
Lynx ran his fingers over her biceps. “Jannike, are you listening?”
Good goddess. They were tag-teaming her. “I’m listening.” Didn’t mean she had to obey or…goddess, their fingers felt so good. The harsh prickles digging into her flesh and crawling beneath her skin twisted together into pleasure. Slowly, the tension released from her muscles.
“There. All done,” Shiloh said. “What about your back?”
“My back is fine. No pain at all.” She managed not to purr the words. Thank the goddess.
“We’ll reapply the gel before we set off again.” Lynx rose to his feet. “Sleep well.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“All you had to do was ask.” Shiloh smoothed his fingers over her biceps and skimmed the tender skin of her wrist. His touch left a simmering charge of pleasure, and she closed her eyes to screen her expression in self-defense.
His trews rustled as he stood, but she sensed he scrutinized her before he and Lynx departed.
“Does thy feel better, lass?”
“Yes, Kelvin.”
“My touch pained you. Their touch soothed. ’Tis destined.”
“No.”
“Fight if you must. Yer foolin’ yerself, and that’s the last I’ll say on the matter.”
“Promise?”
Kelvin snorted a booming laugh and strolled to another spot. Royal climbed down his body and scampered over to her.
“The Indy had better come soon, Royal,” she whispered as she stroked his fur. “I don’t think I can hold out for much longer.”
Chapter Eight
“What do you think is up with Jannike?” Lynx asked. “I’m not sure I buy your theory about rape. Think back to the start when they first put her in our cell. She didn’t react much when she woke with strangers hovering around.”
Shiloh stripped off his tunic and spread a blanket on the ground. “Just now, her body was tense but she wasn’t jumpy. She didn’t scream, not the same way she did at Kelvin’s touch. What do you think it means?”
“No idea.” Lynx yawned as he removed his own tunic and boots, and started on his trews. “Too tired to worry about it now.” He scratched his chest. “Wonder if the heal-gel will work on these black marks. They keep moving, and I feel them shift. It’s disconcerting.” The weirdest thing he’d experienced in his life.
“I need to touch you,” Shiloh said without warning. “Need more than what we’ve been doing.”
Lynx’s gut bucked and it wasn’t in fear. “What do you mean?”
“Trust me?”
“Never been in dispute.”
Shiloh shifted his weight from foot to foot.
Lynx grinned at the uncharacteristic uncertainty and dropped onto the blanket. He placed his hands beneath his head and smirked up at his friend. “Nervous?”
“Hell yeah. I keep thinking this will wreck our friendship.”
“Shiloh, after all the crap we’ve shared over the rotations, nothing will change our friendship. We’ve touched, kissed. Think we’re way over the line now.”
Shiloh stripped off his boots and trews and plonked on the blanket beside him. Lynx grinned again. It was sorta cute for the big guy to hesitate.
He reached out, squeezed Shiloh’s knee. “Love you. We’re a team. Always have been. Can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“But you’re a prince, second in line to the crown.”
“Doesn’t make me special. Doesn’t make me rich. Doesn’t make me crap superior magic. Still dress the same way as you. Shiloh, when have I ever lorded it over you?”
“I’m scared,” Shiloh admitted in a low voice.
“Me too.”
They fell silent.
Lynx stared up at the black sky and enjoyed the cool breeze frisking his body. Refreshing after the earlier heat. He replayed Shiloh’s words, even understood his doubt. “The parents will freak.”
Shiloh snorted a laugh, although they both knew it wasn’t funny. “So what’s new?”
“This might be the final death knell.”
“Maybe, but we have friends. I doubt they’ll care. Cimmaron won’t for a start,” he said speaking of the female Dlog pilot they’d met in a bar several rotations ago.
“Agreed. So why are you dithering?”
“Scared.”
Lynx stared at the pinpricks of light that scattered the black sky. “The prickling sensation is getting out of hand again.”
“I know. Doesn’t mean I like the coercion.”
“Agreed. I’ll be asking questions if—when we make it home.”
“We need to check with the research librarian,” Shiloh said. “He keeps the House of the Cat records. There must be information somewhere.”
“Fated mates though.” Lynx turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbow. “Phrullin amazing when you think about it.” He leaned over and pressed his lips to Shiloh’s. His lips curled a fraction as he thought how right and familiar this seemed. Not a kiss between friends but one between lovers.
Seemed right. Nothing wrong with love, with loyalty, with friendship when it arrived in the same package.
Shiloh rolled without warning, breaking the sweet contact. His chatoyant eyes glowed with passion and yearning. There was love too. Desire. A hint of his normal challenge, and this settled the last of Lynx’s disquiet. Shiloh must have felt the same because he lowered his head and kissed him.
Nothing sweet about this embrace.
Passion spilled out as Shiloh bit at his mouth, encouraged him to open. He tasted, varied the pressure, licked, mated with his mouth until desire roared through Lynx. He gripped Shiloh’s shoulders, falling into the smooch with all the passion and honesty he possessed.
Shiloh’s hands wandered. He caressed Lynx’s chest, his pectoral muscles, and trailed kisses down his throat. A mouth on his earlobe was nothing new, but when Shiloh nibbled sparks reverberated all the way to his cock.
Lynx gasped, gripped Shiloh’s head and did all he could to beg for more without stating the need aloud.
Shiloh laughed, a low intimate sound. “I’m not gonna stop touching you. We can’t go all the way, not without gel to make things easier. Never want to hurt you. But with no one watching, we can go further. Trust me?”
“Always,” Lynx whispered. “With my life.”
Shiloh’s smile stole his breath, the hint of wickedness propelling his pulse rate to choppy.
Shiloh nipped his neck, his rough tongue laving away the sting. He sucked hard enough to leave bruises, not that Lynx cared. The bruising would heal, and besides, it felt damn
good.
Already, his cock stood to attention, pre-come beading at the tip. The insistent prickles under his skin had subsided, as they always did when he and Shiloh touched.
Shiloh moved lower, paying attention to his nipples. Previous lovers had sucked and bitten him there, and he’d experienced nothing. When his friend licked, every nerve snapped to attention, saluted. The scrape of canines dragged a groan from deep in his chest. His arms went around Shiloh, held the feline to him in case he decided to halt.
“Shiloh,” he whispered.
“Feel good?”
“Need more,” Lynx admitted.
“More to come,” Shiloh promised and dealt his other nipple the same treatment.
Lynx’s world became one of sensations, of silken touches, of musky scents, soft lips. Hard lips. Teeth. He loved it all, the cycle’s tensions drifting away on a Perian sea of pleasure.
Lynx jumped when Shiloh gripped his cock in his big hand and pumped hard.
“Shiloh,” he pleaded. “Please. More.”
He expected Shiloh to rise and take him in his arms, that they would writhe and rub together until climax took them both. His next breath caught in his throat. He swallowed as Shiloh straddled his thighs and took his cock into the heat of his mouth.
The warmth, the tight pressure Shiloh managed with his tongue and lips dragged another groan from his throat. Desire. Pleasure. Enjoyment flamed across his skin, hurled him into bliss. His hips bucked, driving his cock deeper into Shiloh’s hot mouth.
“Shiloh. Shiloh. Shiloh,” he chanted.
Phrull, why hadn’t he thought of this before? Suspected that this was what Shiloh had meant? Because he thought of sex in the traditional way. That was why. This was new, unexplored territory. Most people wouldn’t approve. His parents, Shiloh’s parents would act with disgust, but he didn’t phrullin care.
Shiloh didn’t disgust him, had never repulsed him with his relaxed approach to sex.
Shiloh lifted his head, released his cock with a popping sound.
“Why are you stopping? Don’t stop. Please.”
“I don’t want you to hate me, say I forced you later. Still scared, Lynx.” The words came out hoarse and full of passion. His big hand trembled, telling Lynx more than words how much this meant to him.
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