“Don’t you have a puzzle to solve, my Ardin?” She raised her brows in challenge.
“That vase isn’t going anywhere.” The hand at her waist moved up to cup her breasts. “Your impertinence might just need lessening.”
Soft, feminine laughter tumbled from her lips. “I’m still not going to give you any hints. You can threaten as much as you like. I insist that you solve this without help.”
Shard’s fingers left her breasts to dance over her ribs. “I’ma, you’ll know when we’re threatening. It will be a moment before we deliver on the promise.”
“Consider me suitably intimidated.” The wide grin curving her lips and the laughter lurking in her voice belied the submissive words.
Shard hooked his arm around her waist more securely and spun her around in a circle. “You’re a distracting little thing. You’re lucky I don’t have time to teach you now. Tonight, i’ma, we will impress upon you the wisdom of proper deference to your mates.” Shard’s hand landed a light swat on the curve of her buttocks just before he left her.
Her eyes followed him hungrily. They were such teases sometimes. Just when she was ready to crawl into bed with him and forget her own work, he had to remember that he had to go somewhere.
Chapter Fifteen
Lina stretched, feeling the delicious aches in the muscles of her legs. They’d been insatiable last night. From teasing to thought-shattering intensity, they had shown her a variety of sexual levels.
Flipping onto her stomach, she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about them and everything that had happened. She felt so much with them and not just sexually. Her emotions were definitely deepening. Her feelings surpassed liking and came close to love already, even with the trials of adjusting to life in a thent and answering to someone else. She had no idea why or how she had come to feel as she did about them in such a short time.
She had even noticed a difference in the way her feelings for them were growing. Kaleb, generally the more easygoing of the two men, made her laugh. Liking seemed to grow into a deeper caring for him with ease. Shard was a different matter. She admired his strength, the power, the control he displayed. Respect after that first fight had grown along a path of its own into a deep trust and caring.
She rolled from bed with a groan. Raising her arms over her head, she stretched her muscles slowly. She was late rising after the wild night. With a small smile curving her lips, she walked over to a small basin and washed away the last of the fatigue from the night’s exertions. She dressed simply in a pale blue shirt with narrow straps, matching undergarments and a black skirt. Resisting a last urge to linger, she left the tent to begin her work.
She went straight to the work table and sat waiting for Jaksen. She had to see if the man the scanners had been tracking had joined with a larger group. Finding that group would be a step closer to freeing herself and the other women from the restrictions that practically confined them to camp.
Lina took the computer from Jaksen and went to work. There was definitely a pattern to the man’s movements. Every night he returned to the same place and every day traveled same path almost to the step.
A shout of alarm rang through the air as a stun ray hit a metal crate next to one of the Dura-tents and deflected. She reacted without thinking, falling back, taking the small computer with her. The table crashed onto its side as Jaksen rolled to a stop beside her. Lina frantically exited the tracking program and activated another.
“Go to your haven, Lady,” Jaksen urged, looking almost panicked as shots pinged against the table.
Lina didn’t argue. She nodded and shoved the computer into his hands. “Here, use the Sendar’s weapons systems to provide cover fire. I’d suggest the remote hover weapon.”
She thought about the haven and crawled forward. She wasn’t surprised to find herself in the grassy glade only a blink later.
She knew that if she hadn’t come here she would have had to pay for her defiance of what had been an order. This situation wasn’t worth punishment. With the Sendar’s weapons, the fight would soon be finished. She had hated leaving the others in those circumstances, but she had done what she could to offer help to those in the camp. She looked around the glade, trying to decide where she should wait for Shard and Kaleb to come to get her.
* * * * *
Shard cursed as a bolt thudded into the tree next to him. He rolled behind some bushes, seeking better cover from the sharp missiles and occasional stunner fire. Kaleb was to the right of him crouched behind two trees which had grown together.
The attack had taken them by surprise. They hadn’t sensed anyone close as they had walked through the forest toward the ruin they had just started searching. There had been no sign of strange tracks in the area. He hadn’t caught so much as a whiff of human scent. The first indication of trouble had been the first bolt which had thudded into a tree short of its target.
He had seen movement in the trees from two places, but suspected that there were at least five men involved in this attack. The dense forest around them prevented the archers from taking more shots and inflicting severe damage. The location was not conducive to the long-range weapons.
During the first volley of arrows, Vellis had been struck in the shoulder. It was a mere flesh wound, and he was now firing into the foliage opposite his position, providing cover for Trane to slip into the forest. Vellis kept up the intermittent bursts to keep the men pinned into one place.
Shard fired after a shaft struck the ground near his foot. He kept firing, leveling a spray of shots over a wide area. He ducked down after he was assured that he had given Kaleb enough time to slip out of sight of the attackers.
Kaleb kept low, moving fast and with practiced stealth through the bushes and trees around them. The laser pistol was a reassuring weight in his hand. His finger poised over the trigger, ready to fire. His senses, heightened by the rush of anger at this cowardly attack, searched for the slightest movement, the smallest sound. He moved in a wide arc to get behind their enemies. He had complete faith in Shard’s and Vellis’ ability to keep the enemy busy.
Kaleb found the trail of two human men and cautiously approached. He moved with fluid silence from tree to bush as he approached them. They were in the process of launching more of the metal-tipped shafts. Unaware that the real danger lay behind them, not in front of them, their attention was focused on the trees where Shard and Vellis crouched. With quick efficiency and utter accuracy, Kaleb pulled the trigger twice. A yellow ray hit the first man. Before the first man even began falling, the second ray hit his companion. Kaleb faded back into the forest, stalking, hunting those who had dared to attack them.
He swept wide again and began searching for tracks or scent to lead him to the next group of men. A small tuft of fabric fluttering on the branch of a stout bush gave him the first clue. A hint of male human scent drifted to him as he moved cautiously. He followed the scent, silent, alert to a trap.
One of the two men in this small area had taken a position behind some concealing bushes and now lay unconscious, stunned by the blast from one of the shots fired to provide cover. Kaleb shot the second man, sending him into unconsciousness.
Keeping his body low and his tread silent, Kaleb moved away from the area, continuing his hunt for others who might hide in the forest, waiting to kill the unwary. In the dense vegetation, he found Trane. With a series of hand signals, he gave his instructions.
They separated, going in opposite directions. The two men swept a wide circle around the area where Vellis and Shard had taken shelter. Only when they were certain that there were no other hidden assassins did the two men give the all clear signal.
Kaleb took out his com-link as he walked back to Shard and Vellis and tried to contact the camp for transport of the eight men who had attacked them. There was no reply, no signal at all. A few moments later, it was confirmed that none of their com-link units were working.
They realized that they should have already known that the c
om-links were useless. The attackers must have placed units to create a dampening field around them. If the com-links had been working, the Ovian would have contacted them when it picked up the stunner fire on its sensors.
Trane had been sent to find the edge of the field and notify the camp of their needs. He ran back to them. The look on his face caused Shard’s gut to clench in dread. Something had happened at the camp. He knew without a doubt. There was no other reason for that look or his speedy return. He had been given permission to wait for those who would come for them.
“There was a simultaneous attack on the camp. They’ve been trying to reach us, both the Ovian and the people at the camp.” Trane drew in a great gulp of air trying to catch his breath after the long, fast run. “There were only minor injuries, some damage to the camp. Everyone will heal and everything can be fixed.”
“Lina?” Shard’s muscles ached as he waited for Trane to answer.
Kaleb’s eyes narrowed and her tensed. If she hadn’t gone to the haven, he would see that she remembered the cost for such defiance. Her rear would glow.
“She awaits you in the haven you created for her, Ardin.” Trane relayed the answer quickly, knowing exactly how they felt. He had asked after his own mate as well when he learned of the attack.
Kaleb released the breath that he hadn’t known he had been holding. He’d had some doubts that she would actually use the haven if she ever had to do so. She probably didn’t realize just yet that that haven had been created more for the sake of their sanity than her safety. They couldn’t focus on a battle when they were worried that she might be out there placing her life on the line.
She wasn’t the type to hide in safety while others fought. She was the kind of woman who fought at her man’s side. He had expected to hear that she had commandeered a stunner and had defied orders to help stop the men attacking the camp.
“How severe was the assault on the camp?” Shard paced as he waited for the details. The transport for the captured men seemed to take an eternity to arrive. He wanted to get to camp, to go to Lina.
“Ten men attacked the camp with stunner pistols. Jaksen used the Sendar’s weapons to provide cover fire while men slipped out of camp and behind the attackers. All ten men are alive. They were merely stunned, although Jaksen said there were men who wanted to kill them immediately. The cleanup should be almost finished by the time we get back to the camp.” Trane leaned against a tree.
Now Lina’s compliance with their orders made sense to them. Only the knowledge that those she left had an advantage over their attackers would have induced her to leave so readily. They knew she wouldn’t have been so willing without that knowledge. Lina was a protector. Her compliance with that order would always be questionable.
A shuttle flew over the area before finding a small clearing in the trees and landing in a spot that would have been impossible for any but the most skilled pilots. The unconscious men were carried aboard the shuttle and secured with neural cuffs. These men and those who had attacked the camp would be taken to the Ovian for interrogation before a Central Command shuttle was called to deal with the scum.
Kaleb dispatched two men to try to follow the men’s trail back to their hideaway. After losing eighteen men in today’s attack, the remaining men would be very few in number. They had to have been very certain of their success or very desperate to have sent that many men in one assault.
The large camp almost seemed normal by the time that Kaleb and Shard arrived on the skimmers. There were a few holes in the Dura-tents caused by the rays of the stunners. Those would be easily repaired. A few of the storage crates were singed. Some of the men wore bandages on wounds received during the fray. They saw Jaksen at one of the tables and walked toward him to get a full report on the attack and the damage.
Spirits around the camp were high and Jaksen was fascinated with the computer in front of him. He hadn’t even noticed that Shard and Kaleb had arrived. He tensed in surprise when Shard laid a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
“Ardin, I didn’t realize you were back.” Jaksen flushed and then looked back down at the computer.
“You were engrossed in the display on that screen.” Kaleb’s easy smile and the flash of white teeth showed amusement rather than anger at the lack of awareness.
“She has everything connected to this computer. It fascinates me that she can do so much from it. Until she shoved it at me and told me to use the Sendar’s weapons, I hadn’t even paused to think about what she could do with just this console.” Jaksen gestured to the slim computer, an awed expression on his face.
“Did she give you any argument about going to her haven?” Shard leaned his hip against the table as he looked at the computer screen.
“No, I merely told her once to go to her haven, she shoved the computer at me and she was gone.” Jaksen shrugged. “Did you know she has a link to the Ovian on here? It’s not as extensive as the one she has constructed for the Sendar, but she could contact them if she needed.”
“I had guessed that she could probably arrange such a connection if she wanted to do so. I didn’t realize that she’d already done it.” Kaleb chuckled as he moved away from the table. Having such connections made Lina feel safe. He would have to talk with her about informing him of such connections. She had spent a lot of time alone, able to rely only on the technology she created and used in dire situations.
“If the shuttle from the Ovian gets here before we get back with Lina, I want those men secured and watched. Strip them and give them new clothing. They won’t get the chance to take their lives. We’ll question them in the security of the Ovian’s brig.” Shard pushed away from the table, the staccato instructions delivered as he walked over to Kaleb.
The moment he finished speaking, he and Kaleb disappeared.
Lina sat on a large, warm gray rock by the clear, rock-bottomed pool. Her eyes were glued on the clearing and had been since she had arrived in the haven.
What was taking those men so long? Had they been hurt in the battle when they had come to help fight those who had attacked the camp? She was going insane just sitting here and waiting. The possibilities swamped her, each worse then the last.
She blinked and then they were there on the other side of the grassy clearing. Their durable, brown camouflage clothing was dirty and there was a tear in Kaleb’s shirt. Shard’s hair had pieces of leaves in it. Kaleb’s hair was wild, tangled. They had never looked more handsome to her than they did at that moment. She lunged to her feet and ran to them. She flung herself at them. They both caught her, wrapping her within their embrace.
“I was so worried.” She pressed her face to Kaleb’s chest, then to Shard’s, inhaling their scent, taking comfort in the solid bulk of their bodies. “What took you so long? I’ve been going insane, not knowing what had happened.”
“I’ma, that is a complicated story and we don’t have all the details yet.” Shard’s arm tightened around her waist as he savored the feel of her against his body. Relief soared through him. She hadn’t been in any danger.
“Well, tell what you know of it. We’re not going to be interrupted here.” Lina looked from one dark-haired man to the other, waiting for their answer.
“Demanding little rah’ki,” Shard chuckled and ruffled her hair.
“We were attacked as well. They ambushed us after we had left the skimmers to trek to the site we were searching. It took us some time to deal with the men.” Kaleb’s breath feathered through her hair.
“You’re only just getting here from your battle?” Her fingers tightened on the material of his shirt. She’d thought they’d rush back, running straight into a battle, not that they’d been attacked.
“We discovered only after we had stunned the last of them that our communications were blocked. We had to wait until someone had reached the edge of the dampening field to call for transport for those we had captured.” Kaleb leaned back and looked down into her amber eyes.
“It was only
when Trane, the man who had contacted camp, returned that we learned that the camp had also been attacked.” Shard’s hand slipped around her waist, pulling her against him. She felt his hard muscles against her and the fast, hard beat of his heart against her shoulder. “I’ve never known fear such as I experienced in the mere moment before I knew you were safe in your haven. If anything had happened to you, I think I would’ve gone crazy.”
“I’m safe.” She rolled her hips against his, holding him, wanting to reassure him. That admission tore through her. His voice had been raw and there was no doubt that he’d meant the words. “I can’t say that I liked leaving the others when there was trouble. I had real thoughts about staying to help.”
“You did go.” Kaleb’s breath whispered over her ear. “That is what counts, not that you might have wanted to stay. You obeyed orders and kept yourself safe. The thought of you in danger…it rouses the beast within me.”
“I hate the waiting. I don’t know how easy it will be to continue to do as you say in the future. The delay tonight gave me so much time to think.”
Shard pulled her back into the warmth of their embrace.
“This place is our haven, only for our mate, for enjoyment, pleasure and, as you have found, discipline.” Kaleb smoothed his hand along her back and up to cup the back of her head. “Now we have to go back to the camp. We have to see to the prisoners’ interrogation.”
* * * * *
Shard sat at the table across from the unshaven, brown-haired man dressed in a gray one-piece uniform that had replaced the clothing he had worn. He was filthy and he still reeked. The man’s body hadn’t touched water in over ten days by the smell.
Shard’s fury burned hotly, but he controlled the desire to jettison the man out of an airlock. Kaleb had left the room a moment ago, too angry to remain and leave the man in one piece. He’d come close to ripping out the man’s throat and needed time to calm down before he returned.
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