But luckily she didn’t change her mind. “Yeah. You look beat. And I’m starving.”
Later, after they’d eaten, Cal took the first shift again.
It made more sense to have fixed shifts now that they were working harder.
Before, they had been lax about it, switched off on shifts depending on how they felt, but they had overall been getting plenty of sleep.
Now with working all day, they needed to keep to a schedule, and it made sense for the person who last woke up to do the first shift.
Not a single one of the women objected to this reasoning when Cal presented it, instead heading straight for bed.
Several hours into his shift—which he’d spent alone, Rufus having decided to sleep this one out, using Eliza’s face as a pillow, or trying to—Imogen got up.
“Help me with this,” she said, gesturing at the front gate.
“Where are you going?”
“Need to pee.”
“You could do like me and Rufus.”
She glared at him.
He helped her open the gate then stood and watched her walk down the path.
Partway down she turned to look back at him. “Planning on watching me?”
“Uh, sorry. I’ll just turn away and wait here.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I’ll call out if I need help.”
He nodded, and turned away, but didn’t move from the gate.
He watched Rufus kick at the air, the dog’s snores so ever-present as to have become background noise, something Cal didn’t notice unless he was actively reminded of it.
Like now, watching a string of drool blow in and out with each snore.
A couple minutes later Imogen came back up.
Cal closed and braced the gate, turned to watch her pour water into her hands from the trough they used to wash up with, splash some on her face.
She looked at over at him. “You can go to sleep if you want. I’m not going to be able to fall back again.”
“If you’d asked me that an hour ago I would’ve taken you up on it. Got a second wind now.”
“You should try to sleep anyway. You may think you have a second wind, but you will still be able to fall asleep.”
“That your military training talking?”
She shrugged. “We did get trained to sleep anywhere. But I think you already know, I’m not—wasn’t—military.”
“It’s Eliza’s turn next. We should keep to the schedule. Isn’t that what the not-military you were a part of would do?”
She gave the hint of a smile. “That’s not what we’d do. In a lot of ways, we’re opposite to them. Not as structured and rule-bound.”
“Since you’re no longer a mercenary we—”
“I wasn’t a mercenary.”
“Sure. Since you’re not… what you were, we should keep to the schedule. And Eliza’s next.”
“No. I can’t fall asleep again anyway.”
“But then she’s going to have to be woken up later and the whole schedule will be thrown out of whack.”
“I’ll do a double then.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I know. That’s why you lov—” She stopped herself, and after an awkward pause they, by unspoken agreement, both moved to the rear gate, Cal looking out over it while she stood on the steps to the side of it to look over, leaning against the top of the gate.
She reached up and ran her fingers along the underside of the net. “This was a good idea.”
Cal grinned. “Yeah. Mirabelle is pretty smart.”
Imogen glanced at him, giving him a look he couldn’t read. “We don’t know how well it’ll keep them out yet, how smart they are. They cut through the spikes. They might cut through these.”
“You’re a downer.”
She shrugged.
“It will still stop them from diving at us. I guess they might hover there and slice through it, but I’m hoping they won’t see it. Hoping they’re not that smart.”
She nodded, looking back out over the night forest. “Pretty much screwed if they are. Unless those upgrades are more.”
“More?”
She glanced at Eliza, who was still sound asleep, just like Mirabelle. And Rufus. But he was always asleep. “She’s the only one with an upgrade token left. I think she needs to use it. I know she’s afraid to for some reason—”
“For some reason?” Cal interrupted. “It makes sense. We don’t really know what they do at all, or why we have them. And Mirabelle’s growing horns. I mean they’re cute, but… Horns.”
She nodded noncommittally. “Your upgrade made you stronger. Is there a way for you to use another one?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have any more. I’d like to. I’m anxious to see what the next ones do.”
“There’s more than one?”
“Yeah. What, that not something you overheard us talking about?”
She shook her head. “What are they?”
“Don’t know. I think I need to get another token to be able to see what they are.”
“How do you know you have more then?”
“There’s icons I can see, but I don’t know what the symbols mean. The first two showed strength and speed when I focused on them, but these new ones don’t show anything, which is why I think I need a token to be shown what they do.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “I wonder what my options will be. If I get any at all.”
“We only got the new screen for them after coming back from Earth and getting the token.” He frowned. “I think it said something about mission complete. Don’t know what that means.”
“Seems pretty obvious to me.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “Yeah. It means you completed a mission.”
He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Genius. You are very smart.”
“I know.” She looked at him again and their eyes locked. With her on the steps, they were almost the same height, her eyes only an inch or so below his. She licked her lips, flicked her eyes down to his mouth, then quickly looked away.
He moved closer to her, their arms touching now.
She made no move, no reaction at all at this contact.
It almost made Cal move away, but there was something comforting about it. And he thought—or maybe this was just wishful thinking—she felt that way too.
They stood in easy silence, looking out on the night, until Cal’s second wind finally did fade.
“Night,” Imogen said as he headed to bed, and the way she said it made him want to stay with her.
Or for her to join him.
Instead, he asked, “You sure you’re going to be okay with two shifts?”
She smiled at him. “I’ve done much worse.”
46
Cal joined Mirabelle in bed and before he realized what he was doing he’d taken off his loincloth and pressed his body into hers.
He didn’t usually sleep naked, but right now he wanted to be as close to her as possible. And even though the loincloth barely covered anything at all, he didn’t want even that much coming between them.
She wasn’t naked, but he wasn’t going to wake her up just so she could strip, and he didn’t quite know her well enough that he felt comfortable taking her clothes off while she slept.
Besides, it might wake her.
So he satisfied himself with pulling her body against his, breathing in her sweet scent, and pressing his now-hard cock against her bare thighs.
But despite not meaning to wake her, his prodding did just that.
She groaned and patted his thigh as though in search of something, moving her hand around until it landed on his crotch.
One of her pats caught the twins, and Cal tensed, waiting to see if any pain would come.
Getting hit in the balls didn’t always hurt right away, especially if it was only a light tap.
But if there was any pain, it was masked as her warm hand wrapped around his girth and
she sleepily stroked him.
His breath grew ragged as she slowly worked him, rubbing his head against her bare thighs, using it to hike up her loincloth.
He reached around her and lifted her top up, baring her large breasts and squeezing them.
The sleepiness faded from her movements and her breath grew ragged to match his.
Soon she was pushing her butt back into him, moving it up and down while she continued to stroke him, pulling his hardness between her thighs, rubbing it against her heat, which was now wet.
Then she pressed herself down hard against him.
“Fuck,” he heard her quietly moan as his cock slipped inside her and he let out a breath as well, her heat and wetness feeling amazing.
She gasped as she moved her hand away and to his butt, urging him into her.
They made love slowly like that, spooning as he ran his hands over her breasts and stomach, down to her crotch, massaging her clit as they moved together.
He used his thumb, resting his fingers near her opening, feeling their connection, their shared motion, his cock sliding in and out of her.
She twisted her neck to look at him, moved her hand to the back of his head, pulled it so his ear was at her mouth.
Her warm breath tickled his ear as she spoke, giving him pleasant chills and pushing him closer to the edge.
But that was nothing compared to when his brain finally parsed what she’d said: “Come inside me.”
His breath hitched. “What?”
“It’s okay. I know my cycles. You can come inside me. I want you to come inside me. Please come inside me Cal, I want to feel you.”
That was all it took.
He orgasmed, the hand on her breast clenching tightly as intense pleasure washed through him and he spilled himself into her.
Then she let out a choked gasp and he felt her pussy tighten around him, her body convulsing as she grabbed his thigh and dug her fingers in hard.
They stayed like that, straining against each other, squeezing the other’s flesh, until her orgasm finally passed.
He breathed out, stroked her hair, kissed the back of her head, her neck, her ear, her jawline, her shoulder. Then he pulled her tight against him, maximizing the contact of their bodies, the cool night air evaporating the light sweat on their skin, and they drifted off to sleep, still joined together.
47
The next morning as all four of them plus Rufus sat eating breakfast, Cal got the feeling that Imogen had known what they were doing last night, even though they had been on the other side of the tree from where she’d been keeping watch at that point.
When Cal and Mirabelle had woken up, they’d discovered, with lots of giggling, that they’d been still connected.
Separating was an experience.
Now they sat eating, grinning at each other like lovestruck teenagers.
Cal was happy. Yeah, there were monsters—and now native alien humanoids—who possibly might want to kill them. But they were together, they had each other, and that was enough.
“So what’s the agenda for today?” Mirabelle asked, happily eating her prickly green fruit and grinning like an idiot.
“You two,” Eliza said, shaking her head.
She and Mirabelle hadn’t talked much since their kiss, and while Eliza didn’t seem the least bit awkward about it, Mirabelle still did, so now she didn’t acknowledge Eliza’s comment.
Cal wanted to make a joke that they should just get a room and get it over with, but he didn’t think that would help.
“Well,” he said instead, “we’ve got the netting up. Next we should work on making another for the front side, and then, if we have time and materials, a rope fence for the sides so no one accidentally falls off.”
“Oh is that all?” Eliza asked.
“No, actually. After that we need to make another net to attach above the front gate, then ones for the sides. We’ll make it so nothing at all can get in without going through our netting.”
Mirabelle pursed her lips. “That sounds like a lot of work.”
Cal nodded. “But it’s gotta get done.”
“Can we go for a swim today? We haven’t had a real bath since before we got back from getting Imogen. And I’m tired of being cooped up in here.”
Cal nodded, imagining the amazing view he’d be treated with as the women bathed. “Yeah, we can spare twenty or thirty minutes for a bath.”
So when they finished eating they all went out the steep rear path to the stream.
Rufus was first in the water, diving in, splashing and rolling about with pure and utter joy.
The others watched him for several moments, laughing. Even Imogen.
“We’re going to have to start taking him for walks,” Eliza said.
“Is that an arrow?” Mirabelle asked as Rufus picked up something from the ground and began playing with it.
“Yep.” Cal nodded. “Must be some of the ones you shot at the fliers.”
“We can look for arrows later,” Eliza said. “Right now, I want a bath.” Having said this, she stripped off without the slightest hint of modesty and walked into the stream.
“Good idea.” Cal purposely locked eyes on Mirabelle as he pulled off his loincloth.
She giggled and covered her eyes, blushing.
Imogen stripped off with a brutal kind of professional efficiency that stripped along with it any eroticism from the action.
But she couldn’t remove the inherent sexiness of her hard, lean body, and Cal watched as she walked nude into the water.
She turned to face him once she was in the water, giving him a full-frontal view, looked him in the eyes, as if daring him to look away.
Cal didn’t, and after several seconds the corner of her lip twitched and she bit her lip.
She quickly got herself under control, forcing her face to neutral as she settled down in the water a few feet away from Eliza and dunked her blonde hair under the surface. It’d grown a bit now and almost reached her shoulders.
Blushing deeply, Mirabelle pulled off her clothes, putting one hand over her crotch and the other over her large, soft breasts, then ran into the water.
“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Eliza said coolly. “He’s already seen you, and we’re women.”
“Yeah but you are, like…” She trailed off, blushing more deeply.
Eliza nodded. “Ah. I may be a woman, but I like looking at you. Dare I say am even turned on by it.” She bit her lip very unsubtly as she stared at Mirabelle, tracing one finger over her nipple until Mirabelle finally looked up, caught sight of what she was doing, squeaked, and looked away.
Eliza laughed and Rufus came over to lick her face.
This caused her to laugh more and she splashed water on him to shoo him away, which only made him want to play more.
They scrubbed off and played with the dog, and more or less acted like children. Even Imogen lightened up some.
There was something about being naked together when you weren’t having sex that made you feel wild and carefree like a little kid.
When they were done they washed their clothes in the water, then headed back up the path, Rufus reluctant to leave, and only coming after Eliza’s repeated prompting and the promise of a treat, a word which the dog had already learned the meaning of. Not surprisingly.
They all hung their clothes on the gate to dry while they sat around naked on big banana leaves, working on the netting for the front.
This was the first time Mirabelle had been naked around all of them—in the past always putting her clothes back on after washing them despite them being damp—and while she had been reluctant at first, now she seemed to almost be flaunting her exposed body.
Cal couldn’t blame her; she had an amazing one, which obviously he liked, but which Eliza appreciated maybe just as much.
With the hot sun, even despite the humidity, their clothes dried quickly, yet they didn’t get dressed.
They spent the next few hours working
, then called it a day as it began to get dark.
Still naked, they had dinner around the fire, eating fruit while waiting for their tubers to cook.
The close proximity and the lack of distraction gave Cal an erection, which he tried to hide as they sat around enjoying their meal and each other’s company.
Not to mention the magnificent view: Mirabelle’s soft curves, Eliza’s athletic body, Imogen’s hard one. There was something sexy about each of them, and he found himself staring at the peach fuzz on Imogen’s upper thighs, found himself staring at what her crossed legs hid, the hint of blonde pubic hair they didn’t.
At least he had Rufus to distract him, chomping messily down on food, which sprayed everywhere.
He noticed that Imogen kept glancing at him. Was she flirting with him?
Probably. They had been growing closer recently, what with her opening up and sharing about herself. Even if some of the things she shared were weird, like thinking cockroaches were cute.
Finally, she let out an exasperated sigh and turned to Eliza. “Look, I know you’re weary and all, but it could be really helpful if you used your upgrade.”
Oh, Cal thought. Not flirting, then.
48
“My upgrades?” Eliza asked, staring at Imogen in bewilderment at the sudden outburst.
“Cal’s made him stronger,” Imogen went on, undeterred. “We could certainly use the help. If the pattern holds, there’s going to be thirty-two of those things next time.”
Eliza sighed. “I know, but… Absorb and reject? What kind of options are those?”
“Better than mine,” Mirabelle said. “Mine are life and death.”
“Life doesn’t seem so bad.”
“Unless it means it’s going to take my life.”
“Then taking away death would mean, what, making you immortal?
“I don’t know that it would be consistent, and don’t feel like experimenting.”
“Yeah,” Eliza said, “I wouldn’t put that past whoever did this to us.”
“To play devil’s advocate,” Cal said, “mine was strength, and it didn’t take strength away, but gave it to me.”
Survivor- World of Monsters 2 Page 13