Laoch

by Kate LaMontagne

  Laoch became quiet and his grip loosened. Noah pulled back slowly when he realized Laoch had fallen asleep. Tucking the blankets around Laoch, Noah retreated further back into the darker recesses of the cave, where he quietly freaked out. He covered his mouth, breathing hard and pacing back and forth.

  ‘What the hell was that? It had to be the tattoo, right? He saw the tattoo and thought I was Aidan? Is that why he reacted to it at the TC? Did Aidan have the same tattoo? But it’s supposed to be one of a kind! What the fuck?! Is he gonna remember this in the morning? What do I do? Maybe he’ll think it was all a dream! I’m so screwed!! Be cool. Just be cool and follow his lead.’

  He was so hard at that point that he didn’t dare go back to Laoch’s side. He wouldn’t risk Laoch waking up and seeing his obvious erection, especially when Laoch was naked under the blankets. While he really wanted Laoch, now was not the right time or place, or even the best circumstances; besides, that had all been for Laoch’s dead mate, not him. He’d made it abundantly clear that a relationship was not in the cards for them

  He did the only thing he could do. He dropped trou and stroked one off. It took care of his immediate problem, but he still felt like shit when he came because he’d fantasized that it was Laoch touching him.

  Totally exhausted, he went back to bed and fell asleep immediately. When he awoke, there was dim light in the cave and the fire and torches had gone out. Laoch was still asleep. He crawled out from under the blankets and pulled on his uniform shirt and jacket, sans undershirt / all-purpose rag. At least the uniform shirt was black, unlike his now pink undershirt. If he put that back on, he’d look like a pink Ranger.

  Taking Laoch’s sword with him, he stepped out from behind the waterfall and scanned the area for any signs of people or predators. Not being sure where they were exactly, he wasn’t going to chance being some wolfpack’s lunch. The sun was high in the sky. He’d slept till around noonish.

  He got busy crafting snares and setting them out, then he gathered some fruit and berries, stuffing them into his cargo pockets. Thank goodness he’d been in uniform and not his civvies when they left the house. Tight pants and a tight shirt would not be a plus in their current situation.

  He hunted for some specific herbs and was elated to find everything he needed to make a poultice for Laoch and some oral medications for pain and fever. If they ever made it home, he was going to kiss the captain on the lips for being such a hard ass with his survival training. In spite of everything they’d experienced so far, they were fortunate that they’d ended up in an area where they had food, shelter and water.

  The last thing on his list was vines and he found those overhanging the areas where the thermal pools were. Harvesting what he needed, he looped the vines over his shoulder and headed back to the cave. He had to feel his way back to their camp, since he hadn’t thought to leave a torch burning. Once there he felt like an even bigger idiot when he realized he had no way to light the torches or the campfire.

  He had no lighter, no matches, no flint and Laoch was asleep or unconscious. He had a thought then, and he struck the dragon sword against a rock, showering sparks in the darkness. Grinning, he felt around till he located one of the unused torches near the firewood. He located a torch hole on the wall and shoved the torch into it, then picked up a small rock and struck it repeatedly against the sword near the torch.

  The torch lit up with a loud whoomph and he nearly fell on his ass when he jumped back. “Yesss!” he whispered, punching the air. He took the torch around and replaced the burned out torches with fresh ones, not lighting so many as the previous night. The campfire would help light up the cave and he decided not to waste resources, not knowing how long they’d be stuck there.

  Unloading his pockets, he got a fire going and found some rocks he could use to pulverize the herbs. He checked on Laoch, who had not moved or made a sound since he’d returned. His wound was closed but it felt hot and looked inflamed. He knew he was going to have to re-open it to let the poultice do its work.

  He sighed, talking to an unconscious Laoch as he worked. “Man, I really don’t want to do this. I’m no doctor. I wish you’d just said to hell with Fae secrets and dropped us at home or the TC. I don’t have a knife. All I have to work with is a sword that cuts through anything. That’s like using a wrecking ball to pound in a finishing nail.”

  Laoch just lay quietly, unresponsive to Noah’s complaining. Noah glanced up from the pile of crushed herbs. “It’s too bad you can’t hear me. This is the first chance I’ve had to say anything I want to you, but it’s not fair to say it when you can’t answer me. You got to have your say, but I didn’t thanks to that damn Fae bastard.”

  He finished with the herbs and heated the blade tip to kill anything it might have picked up along the way, then plunged it into the raging waterfall to cool it. Kneeling over Laoch and taking a deep breath, he grasped the bare blade close to the tip end and braced his arms to control the movement as he carefully sliced into the infected area on Laoch’s chest. Being Fae, if the infection could be cleaned out, his body should heal completely.

  If Laoch so much as jerked or took a deep breath, it could all be over, but he didn’t move and as the skin parted, a milky looking substance oozed out of the wound. Noah set the sword aside and flushed the wound with water until the wound appeared clean. Picking up the herbs he’d mixed into a paste in the bottom of a cut off bottle, he smeared the concoction over the wound and covered it with a folded strip he’d torn off his undershirt, securing it in place with some larger strips from one of the blankets.

  When he finished, he cleaned up the mess and sat back against the cave wall, his elbows braced against his raised knees and his fingers clenched tight in his chocolate tresses. His hands were shaking. He had no clue whether he’d made things better or worse. Figuring the best thing to do was keep busy, he used some of the larger branches he’d set aside and Laoch’s sword to make several crude spears and carved himself a crude dagger from a volcanic rock, wrapping the wooden handle with small strips from one of the vines. He hoped there might be edible fish in the local waters.

  Depending on how long they ended up staying, he figured he could probably use some vines and branches to make some hammocks or some sort of frame beds so they wouldn’t have to keep sleeping on the rock floor. Higher priority issues had to be dealt with first, like keeping Laoch alive and fed. With any luck, he wouldn’t need to worry about long term stuff.

  He still had the sheath to his KA-BAR, so he’d fashioned the dagger to fit in it. Just having his own weapon again made him feel better. When he was done, he took the sword with him and left to check his snares. He found two good-sized hares in the traps which he reset before returning to the cave.

  After gutting and skinning his catch, he threaded the meat onto a couple of branches which he propped over the fire. Checking Laoch again, he was relieved to find that his fever was down, and he seemed to be sleeping rather than unconscious. He ground up some of the other herbs he’d collected and added them to one of the water bottles, shaking it as he returned to Laoch’s side.

  “Laoch. Laoch. Wake up. You need to drink. This’ll make you feel better.”

  Laoch’s eyes fluttered open and he looked into the emerald green eyes that hovered over him. Noah raised his head so he could drink. “That’s it. Small sips. The herbs will help with the pain and keep your fever down.”

  Laoch wrinkled his nose at the taste but he was thirsty, so he drank it all. “How long?” he whispered.

  “About twenty-four hours. We got here yesterday. It’s night now. I found some fruit and caught a couple of rabbits. Do you think you can eat something?”

  Laoch shook his head and closed his eyes.

  “Okay, maybe tomorrow. Get some rest. You should be feeling better in a little bit.” He stroked Laoch’s cheek, then went to check on his dinner.

  After eating two rabbits and some fruit, Noah was full and sleepy. He made sure he had enough wood on the f
ire to last all night, then he stripped down to his briefs and crawled under the blankets next to Laoch.

  When he woke the next morning, he became aware of two things before he ever opened his eyes. The first thing was he had an erection. The second thing was that he was plastered against Laoch’s body.

  He slowly opened his eyes and found a pair of violet eyes staring back at him. The eyes blinked. He froze. “Why am I naked?” the eyes asked. Well, actually it was the sexy mouth below the eyes.

  Noah suddenly became galvanized. He scurried out from under the blankets and began pulling his clothes on with his back to Laoch. He left his shirt untucked to hide his erection. “Water! Let me get you some water!” Instead of picking up a full bottle from two feet away, he took his time going to the waterfall to get fresh water. When he came back, he was soft again.

  “Here you go.” He helped Laoch lift his head enough to drink, then sat down next to him, feeling his forehead. “I’ll grind up some more herbs for you in a little bit. You had a fever the night we got here and most of yesterday. Your clothes were wet, and I needed to cool you down. I hung them up to dry.”

  “I had to open your wound last night and drain it to get rid of the infection. The paste I used on it and the herbs you drank last night should keep it from coming back. How does it feel this morning?”

  “It still hurts but I feel better. It should start healing now. Thank you for taking care of me. I’m sure you’ve had a lot to deal with.” Laoch pulled the blankets up to cover his mate-mark.

  “You don’t need to hide it.” He laid his hand on top of Laoch’s. “It’s not like I haven’t already seen it. It doesn’t bother me. Besides, I need to check your wound and apply more salve.”

  Laoch managed to raise himself enough for Noah to unwind the strips holding the dressing in place, then lay back down. Noah carefully peeled the dressing away and gently wiped the paste off his wound. It wasn’t healed but it didn’t look infected anymore. Laoch watched Noah as he mixed up more of the paste and applied a new dressing.

  “Has anyone shown up?” Laoch asked.

  “No. I haven’t seen anyone… Fae or otherwise,” he replied. I was careful. I didn’t go far from the cave though. “I don’t suppose there’s any point in asking if you can get us out of here yet?”

  Laoch shook his head. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to cast a portal again. If I continue to weaken... If I… if I don’t improve soon… you should go to Lucius and ask him to contact Tiger. He’ll help you get home. Make something up about how you got here. Say you have amnesia and don’t remember how you got here or…. or something. Just don’t tell Lucius the truth about the Fae. I know that might be unimportant to you, but it would risk the lives of an entire race, including Tiger.”

  “Whoa! Timeout! I never meant to belittle the Fae! I was just frustrated and venting! I’m not going anywhere without you! You’re not going to sacrifice yourself needlessly! This is not ’the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one’! Your life is important too… to me anyway.” He looked away, staring at the pictographs on the cave wall.

  “What’s the deal with those?” He pointed at the wall. “Those look like Corvan natives, but those look like Fae. Are the two races related?”

  Laoch’s face lit up and he grinned from ear to ear. “You’re the first person I’ve talked to who actually noticed the Fae. Everyone always assumes they’re all natives. You’re very observant.”

  Noah started grinding up more of the herbs for the medicinal drink. This time he squeezed some of the juice from the berries and added it in. Laoch eyed it skeptically but he drank it all down. “Okay… it’s a little less disgusting now,” he declared.”

  Noah just gave him the puppy-dog face and Laoch laughed, then winced when it hurt.

  “Do you like rabbit?” he asked Laoch, wiggling his eyebrows.

  Chapter 14

  Tiger headed for Laoch’s room as soon as Tristan returned them to Corvan. He wanted to get a look at the sketch pad Laoch had shown him with the phoenix Aidan had drawn. Maybe there was something in there that would give him some insight into Laoch’s mind.

  He felt a little guilty about going through his cousin’s private possessions, but he reminded himself that it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t find Laoch soon. He lifted the sketch pad out of the dresser drawer and started turning the pages carefully one by one. The drawings were precious to Laoch, so they were handled with the utmost care.

  They were beautiful, most appeared to be images of the Fae countryside and the people from Liam’s home. He recognized interior and exterior images of his house, some of the servants and guards, and Liam himself. There were many drawings of Laoch; a smiling Laoch. How different he looked from the face that he presented to the world now.

  Several of the pictures were stylized phoenix’s; all with the little “A” hidden amongst the feathers. As he got closer to the back of the tablet, there were several sketches that he recognized as Corvan locations. These must have been older drawings, kept separate from the rest, like a series of sketches.

  Liam had said that Aidan sketched historical sites with Laoch, but he’d just assumed those were all on Old Earth. Aidan had been to Corvan! No wonder some of his books and artwork were located on Corvan! His heart sped up as he continued to leaf through the pages.

  There were sketches of the Corvan natives, the sun rising over the outskirts of Aurora, a group picture of his team hanging out together on the patio of a bar. His team! The Rangers! He flipped to the next page and he nearly fainted. It was a head and shoulders sketch of Tiger! The next dozen pages were all sketches of Tiger!

  Not only had Aidan been to Corvan but he’d obviously visited with Laoch when he was checking up on Tiger. Most of Aidan’s sketches were from his imagination. Laoch said Aidan pulled images from his head. Like the phoenix he’d said was Laoch. The next sketch was Aidan’s interpretation of Laoch standing next to Tiger with his arm thrown around his shoulders and laughing.

  Tiger started crying and he had to put the sketch pad down to avoid damaging it. He sat on the bed hyperventilating with tears streaming down his cheeks. Remi called out from the hallway, “Hey, Tigger, did you find anything….” he poked his head around the doorframe and saw Tiger’s breakdown.

  Rushing to the bed, he pulled Tiger up into his arms and squeezed him tight, rubbing a hand over his back. “Shh. Easy babe. What’s going on? Did something happen?” Tiger couldn’t speak. He hiccupped a few times and wiped his face on Remi’s shirt, hugging him back.

  He just gestured to the picture of him and Laoch. Remi glanced at it and understood what was happening. He pulled Tiger down the hallway to the kitchen and sat him down at the breakfast bar. Grabbing some tissues, he wiped Tiger’s face and kissed him on the forehead. “It’s a beautiful picture. It’s one of Aidan’s?” Tiger just nodded.

  “So, either Aidan had one hell of an accurate imagination or at some point he was here on Corvan. That sketch has to be about three years old based on the uniform you’re wearing. Did you find anything that will help us find Laoch and Noah?”

  Tiger finally calmed down and Remi went to the sink and brought him back a glass of water. He sipped at it and wiped his eyes. “I haven’t finished going through it yet. There are landscapes of Corvan that I recognized before I got to that last one. There are lots of drawings of me and even one with me and the rest of TJ’s team.”

  “I can’t get over the thought that they both watched over me for so many years and I wasn’t even aware. I wish I could have met him.” He started to tear up again.

  “Why don’t you take a break for a bit,” Remi suggested. “Go swim some laps or take a nap. We’re all tired but you’ve been through a lot this past year; one thing after another.” Remi kissed Tiger again. “Go put on that sexy purple speedo and get in the pool. I’ll fix us some snacks and join you shortly.” He gave Tiger a playful slap on the ass as he got up and headed upstairs.

  Remi fixed some sandw
iches and cut up some fruit, placing it all on a tray, then went upstairs to change into his own suit, short black briefs that dipped low on his hips. Tiger loved that suit. It left nothing to the imagination. Maybe Remi could distract his beloved with a little aqua-sex.

  Tiger was just sitting on the pool steps, lounging in the cool water up to his waist, when Remi stepped out the door and put the food on a table in the shade. Spotting the suit that Remi had donned, he gave his mate a heated look. After being celibate for so much of his life, Tiger seemed to be making up for lost time. Jake was right about them always being “on”.

  Having separate jobs in different locations meant about the only time they spent together was at home. They’d pretty much fucked each other on damn near every flat surface in the house at least twice, which was saying something given the number of people constantly drifting through the house.

  “Come on. Let’s do a few laps before we eat.” He dove into the pool and Tiger followed, circling the pool several times at a leisurely pace. Tiger had taken his hair down. He loved letting it trail loose when he swam, and Remi found it sexy as hell.

  The fourth time they headed through the grotto, Remi reached out midway and jerked on Tiger’s hair. Tiger stopped and turned to see what Remi wanted. He pressed Tiger back into the little recessed area that looked like a small cave with rocks, sea creatures and a mermaid sitting on the rocks. From there no one outside the grotto could see them. Holding on to a rock, he cupped Tiger’s groin, squeezing lightly. Tiger’s eyes rolled back, and he gasped.

  He clutched the waistband of Remi’s suit, tugging him up tight against his body as Remi shifted his hand to Tiger’s ass. Remi kissed him, gazing into his eyes, heat simmering in his own half-lidded topaz blue orbs.

  “I’ll always remember our first kiss. You, coming up the steps, dripping wet and naked, like a water nymph. So sexy,” he breathed, nuzzling into the crook of Tiger’s neck. He kissed and nibbled his way up Tiger’s neck and licked the spot just below his ear. Slipping his hand under the back of Tiger’s suit, he ran a finger up and down his cleft until his finger rubbed over his entrance.