Tiger tensed and shoved his hands down the back of Remi’s suit, kneading his cheeks and pulling him in tighter. Remi worked a finger into Tiger and started pulsing it in and out shallowly, rubbing against Tiger’s entrance. He shivered and tucked his head under Remi’s chin. Soon, Remi slid a second finger in, awkwardly stretching Tiger.
Tiger panted, trying to rut against Remi, but their suits were in the way. “We need to have a platform installed in here so we can do it without drowning,” Tiger grumbled.
Remi chuckled. “Or at the very least some hand holds. Jake would probably want to know what they’re for though.”
“Now. Need you now, Rem,” he whined, pulling his hands out of Remi’s suit. Remi removed his fingers and Tiger turned to face the rocks as Remi pushed his suit down his hips and flung it up onto the rocks. Tiger held on to the rocks while Remi pushed his speedo down and off, but he lost his grip and it floated away. Ignoring it, he opened Tiger up, pressing his tip against his entrance until it popped through the tight ring of muscle.
He slowly pushed in, till he was fully seated. The feeling of weightlessness and cool water surrounding them versus the heat of Remi’s hot cock in Tiger’s heated channel was highly erotic. They just hung there, breathless, giving Tiger time to adjust to the stretch. Tiger started to squeeze his inner muscles, signaling his impatience, so Remi grabbed the rocks on either side of Tiger and pushed up, his hips rolling and slowly rubbing his cock over Tiger’s sweet spot. Tiger spread his legs more, bracing his feet against the rocks and lifting one leg higher to open himself up to Remi.
The water slapping against the pool wall and Remi’s labored breathing were the only sounds in the dim tunnel. Tiger started to make little whimpering noises. “Please, Remi! Please!”
“I’m close, Tigger, hang on tight.” He let go of the rocks and gripped Tiger’s hips as he thrust in and ground against him as hard as he could. Remi reached around and stroked his cock fast. “Fuuuuck!” Remi shouted, the sound echoing off the grotto walls. They both ejaculated together and just hung there against the rocks for several minutes, Remi’s cheek resting against Tiger’s shoulder.
Remi kissed Tiger behind his ear. They could feel the warmth of Remi’s seed slowly leaking out of Tiger’s hole between them. “Love you Tigger,” he whispered.
Reaching back and looping his arm around Remi’s neck, Tiger leaned his head back into Remi’s shoulder, reveling in the warmth and love emanating from the mate bond.
“Love you too.” He grinned. “You do realize the next time anyone uses the pool they’re going to be swimming in our spunk.”
Remi smiled wickedly. “Yeah… let’s invite TJ over for a pool party tomorrow.”
Pulling out, Remi put his suit back on and they just floated there for a bit, relaxing with their fingers twined together.
“Feel more relaxed now?” Remi asked.
“Yeah. We’re lucky Jake didn’t decide to go for a swim. Seeing that would have scarred him for life,” Tiger snickered.
Remi sighed. “Pretty soon he’ll be having pool parties. I may have to put locking gates on the grotto. You know, he’s never given me any hints as to his sexuality but he’s at that age where he must be developing some urges. I mean, we’ve had the ‘talk’, but he doesn’t really go anywhere or have friends over.”
“Maybe he just watches porn and jerks off at home.” Tiger waggled his brows at Remi.
Remi frowned. “I think you’ve been hanging around TJ too much. You’re beginning to look and sound like him.”
Tiger laughed and splashed him. “Go find my suit before it clogs up the water filter.”
They finished their swim and had their lunch. After that Tiger was so relaxed, he fell asleep in a deck chair. Waking from his nap, he was ready to dive into the sketch pad again. Sitting on Laoch’s bed, he quickly leafed past the pages that he could tell were of him or Laoch without dwelling on them. He needed to get through his investigation and not waste time freaking out again. Hopefully, Laoch would let him see them later, or better yet make copies.
As he came upon some pages with pictographs, he started to skip through them, assuming they were the pictographs from Liam’s property, when he suddenly stopped to examine them closer. These were Corvan pictographs. Not only Corvan pictographs, but some of them he recognized from the cave he’d hidden in. The ones that looked like Fae and Corvan natives meeting and working together.
Tiger had spent a lot of time studying those images while hiding with nothing else to do. These weren’t just similar; they were the exact same images. Laoch and Aidan had been in that cave, and probably other caves in the area, but the point was that they’d been in a hidden location that only the natives, Tiger and TJ’s rescue party knew about, or so he’d believed.
He stormed down the hall and went out the back door. Ten minutes later he returned and confronted Tristan with the sketch pad in his hand. “Tris! Have you or any of your men been to the research compound Lucius McNair manages in the northern mountains, or anywhere near that area?”
The usual group had settled with drinks in the living room and they all looked at Tiger in confusion. “No, we have never been off Old Earth until recently. We’ve always been in Master Liam’s service.”
“Do you know of any other Fae who might be familiar with that area?”
Tristan didn’t know where Tiger was going with his questions. “No. I don’t think there would be any reason for our people to go there.”
Tiger turned to TJ. “Did we send any search parties there?” TJ was beginning to follow Tiger’s train of thought. “No. We were relying on the Fae to cover the remote areas and I didn’t think anyone other than researchers and traders went there... and us of course. Are you telling me Laoch has been there?”
Tiger turned a bitter smile on Remi. “We’re idiots. Talk about a lack of communication.”
Remi looked at TJ in disgust. “He was there when we were. We saw him leaving the day we bonded.”
“He and Lucius each told me in private that he’d been feeding Lucius data to further his virus research,” Tiger admitted. “He’d used the identity of nerdy ‘Professor Laoch’ so Lucius wouldn’t know who he really was. He never said he’d been in any of the caves but look at this.” He dropped the open sketch pad on a table and pointed at the pictograph.
Remi gasped and looked closer. “Is that from…?”
“Yep. That and the others are from the waterfall cave.” He ran his gaze around the group. “It looks like Laoch and I are the only living Fae who have been there, and I can’t produce a portal to go there. Maybe it’s the distance, but I can’t even open a small one to verify they’re there. I tried that already.”
“I don’t understand why Tristan can’t open a portal for us,” Remi said.
“They can’t open a portal to a location they’ve never visited,” Tiger explained.
TJ snapped his fingers. “Call Lucius!”
“Can’t. We can’t contact anyone up there. None of them know about Laoch or the cave. Tae told me Professor Laoch is afraid that exposing the pictographs to the public would bring unwanted attention to a sacred site and disrupt the lives of the natives there. He refuses to release the information to anyone, even Lucius. That’s why it’s the perfect hideout for them. If he were at the compound with Lucius, he would’ve contacted us already, so they must be hiding in one of the caves.”
“Babe, there are a lot of caves there. They could be anywhere,” Remi said.
“True but I think that one is the most likely place.” They went quiet for a bit.
“Crap!” Of course, TJ broke the stalemate and said what they’d all been thinking. “Road trip. Dammit, I hate that place and it’s fuckin’ snowing up there again! How are we going to explain our presence there this time?”
Tiger smirked. “Tris, can you use your glamour to make yourself look like a nerdy Laoch brother? We don’t know what kind of glamour Laoch used but if you can make yourself look like a dulled-dow
n version of Laoch we can claim you’re his long lost kin looking for him.”
“Yes. I can do that… if you describe what ‘nerdy’ means.”
“TJ, do you think Max would be up for another trip north?”
“Sorry, he’s still on call at CGH but we’ll bring Wolf.” Little Wolf was a medic and one of the trackers on their team. He was part Navajo and Scots / Irish. “Elias and Heath, you guys need to stay here and cover Jake. I’ll bring Jess too. We should probably have another Fae on our team.”
“Eoin and Micael are already familiar with the group. I’ll bring them,” Tristan said.
“Maybe we should bring Tae. He can show us any other likely locations if they’re not at the waterfall,” Tiger added.
“Okay, that means Tony comes instead of Jess,” TJ noted. “He and Tae are a mated pair. They’re not bonded, but they might as well be. They’re mated and married,” he explained to Elias. “There’s no way Tony will let Tae make that trip without him.”
“Do you think you can scam us a military transport this time so we can bring all our gear and not attract attention? We’d be able to take off directly from the fort.” Remi asked.
“Probably. I’ll let you know in the morning, but we’re still going to have to hike in from Dominion, so pack your snow gear. Tigger, you can explain to Tris and Eoin what to expect. Best scenario still means four days travel time including tomorrow.”
Tiger bit his lip and looked at TJ. They were both thinking it would be at least a week out from when Laoch was wounded before they could get to him and Noah, wondering if he could hold out that long. They likely had nothing with them in the way of weapons or food.
TJ finished his drink and broke up the impromptu meeting. “Okay people pack your gear and find your beds. Tomorrow you’ll be up to your asses in snow so get a good night’s rest.”
Tiger took the sketch pad back to Laoch’s room and placed it back in the dresser drawer. He turned off the light and stepped out closing the door. Midnight was waiting in the hallway. “Sorry buddy, he’s not back yet.” As if he understood, he turned and headed up the stairs to Jake’s room. He’d been restless since Laoch disappeared, wandering the house and backyard as if searching for him.
The next morning, TJ managed to give the flight chief a convincing argument for why his team needed a transport to Dominion, supposedly a training exercise that involved hiking all the way back to the fort. The chief became very cooperative when he heard the grunts were going to be walking most of the way back in the snow… he was another airman who thought Rangers were spoiled elites. Little did he know TJ was counting on returning via portal.
Given the heads-up, everyone loaded up their gear at their respective locations before the sun had even cleared the horizon. They converged on the airfield, piling out of their vehicles stretching and yawning, and hauled their equipment up the boarding ramp.
Cillian’s spies had followed them and skulked around the hangar, trying to get a lock on where they were going. They’d had to send in their Fae since their glamour was needed to sneak on base, but they couldn’t get close to the plane because Tristan and Eoin would have spotted them immediately.
One of them struck up a conversation with an airman he’d seen fueling the transport. The flight status board on the wall behind him indicated the transport was outbound to Dominion. “I’ll be on shift tonight. Think they’ll need any help unloading cargo when they get back?” He gestured to the status board.
“Nah,” the airman replied. “They’re just dropping that bunch off and coming back empty. Some sort of training assignment. The captain said they’d be hiking all the way back to Yamano. Poor bastards… that’s a long haul on foot and it’s snowing up there. That’s one hard-ass CO. Glad I’m not on their team.”
“Great, should be a slow night then.” He casually worked his way out of the hangar, then left the fort in a hurry, meeting up with his confederates and ducking into a secluded area to cast a portal back to Cillian’s location.
When they reported their findings back to Cillian, he was quiet, running all the various possibilities through his head. What was the probability that a mixed group of humans and Fae who had been searching for Laoch would suddenly drop everything to do a training run from Dominion to Yamano? Did they have evidence that Laoch was in Dominion? Granted, his own people had not thought to look for him there.
His men were still standing before him, awaiting their orders. “Get your asses to Dominion and follow them,” he said.
His men looked uncomfortable. “Sir, none of us have ever been there. We’ll have to take a transport.”
Cillian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, get on it then. You’ll be a day behind them. Find out if anyone there knows where they’ve gone and get after them. When you locate Laoch and the dark-haired Fae, open a portal for me. I want to deal with them personally. Don’t fail me this time,” he warned.
Surely Laoch hadn’t had time to recover from his wound. Soon… soon his hated enemy would be within his grasp.
Chapter 15
“So, if the Fae have all these abilities, why don’t they just use them to destroy their enemies? Why all the swords and dueling?” Laoch had filled in some of the gaps in Noah’s understanding of the Fae and the current situation. He was part of TJ’s team so Laoch knew he’d keep his mouth shut about what he was learning.
“Our abilities don’t work on other Fae, just like our glamour. Good gods, if we could turn our abilities loose on each other our race would have died out long ago. We don’t use advanced weapons for the same reason. Dueling with swords follows rules and a code of honor and keeps the casualties low.” Laoch looked at Noah like everything he said was perfectly logical and acceptable.
Noah just shook his head. “And you said you came here to train Tiger as he gains his abilities. You care a lot about him, don’t you? More than a mentor.”
“Of course I do. Tiger’s my cousin.”
“Oh.” Noah’s heart leapt for joy. “Has he gotten any yet… abilities that is? I mean, I saw him send the captain flying across the deck one time when he got pissed off and pointed at him. He didn’t mean to do it and he was really upset when it happened.”
Laoch smirked at the memory of all the times he’d seen that happen. “No. He hasn’t come into his first ability yet. What you saw was a protective action generated by the bracelet his mother obtained for him. It’s not Fae. It’s spelled and was recently activated, but he is still learning how to control it. It is intended to help focus his abilities because he’s not full Fae and it was created by a powerful witch. Without it he would have diminished abilities and I trust you will keep that to yourself, as one of his brothers.”
“Of course… wait!” Noah’s mouth dropped open. “Witch? You’re telling me witches are real too?”
Laoch chuckled. “Yes. Witches, centaurs, unicorns, fairies, dragons… they’re all real but the Fae hide the fact by making up fairy tales to explain them.”
“So, it was real! I thought I saw a unicorn on your father’s estate, but I didn’t want you to think I was crazy!”
Noah considered what Laoch had said about the bracelet. “Couldn’t Tiger loan you his bracelet to boost your abilities?”
Laoch shook his head. “Again, my abilities don’t work against other Fae, and the bracelet is attuned to Tiger, so it only works for him. But he has one advantage the rest of us don’t, although I don’t think he’s realized it yet. While Fae can’t use their abilities against each other, that doesn’t include witchcraft.”
“Hmm. Interesting. So, does your code say others can’t help you if Cillian shows up again?”
“Not if he shows up with others and just attacks. If he issues a challenge one-on-one, then honor dictates that it’s just the two of us. He’s never had the courage to challenge me before, but he knows that I’ve grown weaker now. After wounding me, he’ll be emboldened to issue a challenge and I’ll have no choice but to fight him alone.
”
“That’s ridiculous! Don’t accept!” Noah argued.
“If I don’t, I’ll be labeled a coward and shunned by my people. He’ll use whatever means necessary to eliminate me and I’m afraid you’re a target now too. If he challenges me you need to stay out of it.”
Noah snorted. “Yeah…. that’s not gonna happen.”
They were side by side near the fire. Laoch lay on his side facing Noah and Noah sat with his arms wrapped around his knees looking down at him. “There is no way in hell that I’m just gonna stand there and watch them slaughter you. I know you say a relationship between us isn’t possible but that doesn’t mean I can just turn my feelings off, not to mention the whole Ranger thing. We don’t operate that way.”
He hesitated, then reached out and laid his palm along Laoch’s cheek. Laoch stiffened, looking back at Noah with wide eyes. ‘Time to get it all off my chest,’ Noah thought. “I know you don’t want this, but I love you Laoch. The heart wants what the heart wants. If we’re both gonna die soon, is it so wrong to look for a little happiness until then? Whether it’s for an hour, a day, a month or forever. It’s the quality of your life, not the quantity. It’s like telling me not to love you because you have a terminal illness. It doesn’t matter.”
“You need to let go of your guilt. Stop lugging that baggage around with you. Only one person is responsible for what happened to Aidan, and that’s Cillian. If the grief is uncontrollable and that’s something that can kill you, I don’t understand it, but I guess that’s fate. But don’t welcome Death with open arms. Aidan wouldn’t want that. Don’t make Cillian’s job easier. Fight that bastard with all you’ve got. We’ll do everything we can to help.”
Laoch stared back at Noah with glassy eyes. “I’ve tried but I don’t know how.” He turned his face into Noah’s palm squeezing his eyes shut, and tears coursed down his cheeks as a sob broke free. Noah slid down and wrapped his arms around Laoch, hugging him and stroking his hair as Laoch twisted his fingers in the front of Noah’s shirt. He let it all out, the guilt, the loneliness, the despair.
Laoch Page 11