by Lauren Dane
It was something she’d done with him before. Sometimes four times a day. And yet, each time with him was a new experience.
He walked in some minutes later. “I’ve wanted to do this for a while now. Since you first mentioned it as a joke.” He held up a piece of vivid purple material. “A scarf I saw at the Portal station and thought it would look even better over your eyes.”
No words.
He moved to her, sure of her response. Her nipples thrust out, hard, begging for his attention. He got up on the bed, straddling her body. “Last opportunity to slow things down.” He waited, and she shook her head, emphatic.
“Please, yes. More.”
He smiled, his gaze raking over her breasts. And the world went soft and purple when he leaned down and tied the scarf over her eyes.
Sensation leapt to her skin like a million new cells were created right at that instant.
“Do you have any idea what I see when I look at you?” he whispered against her ear. “You’re so beautiful. Your skin is like the afternoon sun on the grain fields. Bronze with a bit of gold. Kava with milk.”
A kiss on her neck, where it met her shoulder. She shivered.
“Your breasts make my mouth water.” The ghost of a touch across one nipple and then the other.
Deep inside the dark, soft place he’d bound her in there was only sensation. Only his hands on her skin, the hot brand of his mouth on the curve of her breast, the hollow at her hip, the nip of teeth, the brilliant shards of pleasure/pain as his short, square nails scored down her sides until she let out a shaky moan of entreaty.
“Do you need it?” His voice, a whisper against her skin.
“Yes. Please.”
“I can smell you. Your pussy calls to me.” He kissed down her belly, and she wondered if she’d burst into flames when he finally reached her cunt.
She didn’t.
He spread her thighs wide and settled in for a long lick, and she shuddered, jutting her hips forward, needing more.
And he gave it to her.
Two fingers in her pussy and another teasing her rear passage, he played against her clit until she nearly screamed.
Instead she managed to inarticulately beg for more.
He’d reduced her to whimpers and grunts, and she loved it. Wanted more.
“More,” she thought she said, but who knew, maybe it was only in her head.
Whatever it was, he responded with a dark chuckle and then a mouth sealed over her clit, suck and draw, suck and draw, over and over, until her thighs trembled and beads of sweat broke over her from want.
And then she was sucked beneath, no longer struggling for air, simply giving over to what he delivered.
Digging her heels into the mattress, she used it for leverage, pushing her cunt into his face with naked yearning.
He licked and sucked, eating her like he was starving. Eating her until she exploded all over his mouth and hands. Eating her as her nails dug into the blankets on the bed beneath her. All the while rubbing herself over his face as wave after wave of climax hit until she was senseless with it.
He kissed her mound. “Your taste lives in me, Piper.”
His words wrapped around her, caressing, squeezing. It was as if the blindfold had freed his tongue—literally and figuratively—setting her on fire.
And then he rolled her over, kissing a hot, wet line down her spine, his tongue swirling in the slight dip at each side when he reached her ass.
She smelled the lube right before she felt it, warm and slick down the crack of her ass. Drawing a shaky breath, she willed herself to relax as his thumbs massaged against her asshole, pressing just a bit more with each touch.
It was . . . new. Taboo. Dark and sticky. She’d been fucked in the ass three times. All the same man who had a big hard-on for it. She wasn’t overly impressed. Once he had gone, she’d never felt any compulsion to have a dick in there ever again.
But with Andrei things were different. He touched her like a man who knew every part of her body, knew how to excite and ready her for anything he wanted to deliver.
He drew her in with each brush, each caress, until she practically thrust herself at him, pressing herself back on his fingers. It was uncomfortable at first.
“Shh. Push against me as I press in. Finger your clit, get yourself wet and hot, and it’ll be better.”
She nearly lost her mind, mad to have more from him.
He stretched her. Slowly and carefully. There was no haste in him as he scissored his fingers, making way.
He slipped all the way in with his fingers. At first there was that burn, the sharp sting of unexpected penetration. And then it warmed as she made the effort to relax.
“You don’t know what it does to me to feel you relax. Knowing you’re ready for me to put my cock in your ass.”
Raw desire edged his words. Her nipples brushed the blankets beneath her as she thrust herself back at him. “In me. Andrei, please.”
“Please what?” He pulled her up so she was on her knees, her head down and her ass up.
There was no hesitation in her, no shame with him. Never. “Fuck me. Put your cock in my ass.”
He nipped her left cheek hard. Enough to make her gasp a breath, and then he was pushing in.
So patient was her Andrei. Pressing carefully but consistently, past the first ring of muscle. She blew out a breath. A cock was an entirely different feeling in one’s ass. Fingers couldn’t compare.
Trying to relax, she breathed through it, pushing out as he pushed in. But once he reached around and flicked a fingertip over her clit, she was just fine.
There was nothing but sensation. Overfull. Too much. She wrestled back her panic that it was too much. He petted her flanks, uttering soft sounds until she relaxed again.
With her eyes covered it was hard to gauge time. She let go and floated as he began to thrust in short, feral digs, all while his fingertips played through the folds of her cunt, keeping her hanging on the edge of climax.
His hands on her were covetous. Jealous and greedy. In his touch she was a goddess. The embodiment of sex and desire.
Not entirely unexpected, climax hit her as her pussy clenched, empty. He grunted and then snarled as he came, filling her as he said her name like a prayer.
And then she was on her side, his hands caressing, soothing.
“I’ll be right back.”
She felt his weight leave the bed and heard him pad through the main room and into the bathing suite, running water.
And then he was back with a wet cloth and cleaned her up with so much tenderness and care it made tears spring to her eyes.
Eyes he soon uncovered, and there he was when she opened them again.
“Only you.”
He smiled. “Always and forever.”
Chapter 17
“Operative Haws and I have decided Operative Roundtree’s ideas have merit. With the way things are going, we need to be sure not to leave any stone unturned. Therefore, two teams will head to Parron. You’ll arrive with the relief troops. Once there, you’re on your own. You have two days to find something. If not, get back to Mirage and keep looking.”
Andrei looked to Piper, and they both nodded.
“Transport leaving to Parron within the hour.” Vincenz looked up from the screen. “I’ve booked you both passage. Come back here before you leave for the portal, and I’ll have identification and papers for you.”
Piper hoped she was right as the transport shuddered to a halt in Parron’s massive Portal station. The wait wasn’t long, given that the only incoming transports were humanitarian, with food, medicine and other essential supplies. Their papers had identified them as geologists. Vincenz had said it would give them the opportunity to split off from the rest of the workers once they arrived, and he’d been right.
Outside the transport was utter devastation and chaos.
If the Imperialists had meant to destroy everything on the’Verse, why leave the Portal standing?
It only made her more convinced when she noted how the damage had ended within a few clicks of the Portal itself.
Andrei guided her through all the checkpoints, his accent perfect as he identified them as geologists sent to take readings of the tremors near the equator. After the last one, they were on the ground, and crowds milled around. In the distance there was simply nothing. Smoke and rubble. The damage was simply too massive, too thorough for her brain to take in and make sense of.
Andrei took her hand, leading her to a tent with supplies for the workers. He grabbed two packs and some water before heading toward the gates leading away from the Portal.
It didn’t take very long. Once they’d left the gated area serving as the base camp for the relief effort, the area was pretty deserted.
“We’ll take this road”—Andrei highlighted it on his wrist comm—“and head north.”
A long walk.
“I wonder if we can commandeer a ride, just at least to that ridge”—she indicated the spot she meant on the comm screen—“and then we can hike the last part.” Without that ride, it would take them at least two days to get there. Even if they ran, it would take that long, and she had no idea how much damage there’d be in between.
“Stay here.” Andrei left her, jogging off, the crowd swallowing him again.
A few minutes later he popped up again. She thought of getting him some sort of bell or other noisemaker, because he was so quiet she didn’t even see him until he was right in front of her. She really needed to work on that, or she’d get killed.
“I’ve got a ride. Can you helo-jump?”
She blew out a long breath. She hated jumps. But there was nothing else to be done, she supposed. They had to use the tools available, the distance was too much to manage on foot in the time they had.
“I can.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be right there,” he said quietly as he guided her around the edge of the gates until they ended up in the midst of a group of helos. The sun was going down so they’d have some extra cover, and she supposed it wouldn’t be as easy to see the ground hurtling toward them faster than she wanted.
He spoke Sanctinese to the pilot, who indicated they get in as he flipped the switches and fired the blades up.
Andrei helped her into the chute and she him, each checking the fit, making sure the straps were strong and tight. The pilot told them over the mic that he’d been there since the day after the bombings, and he’d been making runs out to all the outlying areas where relief stations had been created.
As they flew over, Piper choked back tears and bile at the damage below. She’d never seen anything like it. In some places there was simply nothing there but piles and piles of bricks and dust where buildings once stood.
There had been war in the Known Universes. Small skirmishes between ’Verses and even between groups in the same ’Verse. There had been the last war with the Imperialists when the Federation Universes had pushed them back, taking all the Frontier that had been part of the Imperium. As a child she’d learned of the devastation then when the Imperialists had dropped null bombs, the kind that killed everyone and everything but left the buildings standing. And when it was clear they were losing ground, they set fires with chemicals that could not be extinguished, they’d used large-scale bombs called ’Verse killers that had leveled hundreds of miles of cities, towns, ocean, whatever.
But it hadn’t touched her life here. They’d escaped Earth for that reason. Had escaped war and famine, and though Asphodel hadn’t been perfect, she’d never worried about fire raining down on her home and friends.
This is what the Imperialists had brought them. And that was why they needed to be stopped.
The scene from horizon to horizon was a nightmare. The dust still smoldered in places. Underground fires, the pilot had explained.
“They hit schools and hospitals. Violated every single law of engagement. Then again, they did it last time, too. Just not this far in. No fucking honor, those Imperialists.” The pilot’s rage tautened his voice, adding to how ill she already felt. “Lyons sent troops. I like that part. But he has to man up and meet this force with force.”
Piper knew he had, but said nothing.
“T minus three minutes. I’ll drop you to the east of the ridge. There’s too much damage otherwise. There’s a relief camp about three clicks to the other side of the ridge, toward the lakes. If you get in trouble out there, and you might, because there’s no one else around, just hit your call button. It’s a public channel, and they can extract.”
She moved to the doorway, sliding it open and standing at the ready. Andrei was right behind her. He’d asked, though quietly so no one heard but her, if she wanted him to go first. She’d refused, wondering if there was anything in all the Known Universes he was afraid of.
It had to be done, and she’d do it. So when the pilot called out a go and gave a green light, she jumped, letting her body take over, knowing her muscles would remember what do to.
Landing hurt more than she remembered, but she managed not to break anything and to roll out of the way as she retracted the chute back into the pack. She reined in her fear and the swell of relief that she survived to jump from aircraft another day. One she hoped was far in the future.
Within moments the sound of the helo had faded, and Andrei had retracted his chute and had joined her.
“What do you see?” he asked quietly, pulling his own field glasses from his pack.
“Nothing much. We need to take readings to get a baseline. I see some camp lights about five clicks to the south and what looks to be a heat signature from a small group about four clicks the other way. Looks like it matches up with the data we had about who was out here.”
“How are you? Tired?”
“I slept on the transport. I’m good, and I know we need to get some ground covered before first light.”
He touched the side of her neck. “If you need to stop, give me a double tap.” He demonstrated, and it sounded in her ear where she’d tucked the receiver.
“Got it.”
“Let’s go then.” He led the way, and she followed.
Every hour or so she stopped to get readings. Vincenz had created a spectrum analyzer of some sort. It would show a spike in either the material that made the gel or the Liberiam or a rise in the electric pulse usually found near labs using processing equipment. They might get false positives, but that was easy enough to check and better than having nothing to help them narrow their search at all.
He stopped her at the edge of the canyon floor where it flowed out onto a plain that once held a small city. Now there was simply nothing but rubble.
“We’ll have to get through that open area up ahead. There’ll be no cover.”
“Moon is setting. Lead the way, and we should be able to clear it by the time the light begins to rise.”
“And then we need to find a place to strike a camp.”
She shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant, but boy oh boy, did it sound like a dream to be able to stop and get off her feet.
He saw right through her, of course, but said nothing more about it. Which she appreciated.
He paused, taking her hand. “This is going to be difficult.” He handed her a mask. “We have to wear them. Don’t go near any dead, all right? The ones not cleaned up and disposed of properly are high risk for contagion. They’re beyond our help now. Do you understand? We’re doing what we can for them this way. Just hold on to that.”
Running with a mask on? She took a deep breath and put it on, setting the regulator and engaging the tox and bacteria screens.
And they ran.
It had been hard; he hadn’t lied. From the distance it had looked like just rubble from buildings, but up close it was bodies and pieces of people as well as rubble. Everything broken. Everything destroyed. She pushed the gorge back, focusing on running and keeping from tripping over the bricks and the dead.
She’d always considered herself strong, jaded e
ven. But those two hours they spent passing though the rubble of the city that had once marked the entrance into the back country had corrected that misperception. She wasn’t jaded. She was shaken and sweaty and trying not to gag or cry. Incredibly thankful for the mask, which blocked the stench, and for Andrei, who led her, keeping her focused and moving.
When they finally got not only free of the outer edges of the city but began to climb into the foothills beyond and into some cover, she wanted to fall to her knees, but she kept moving until Andrei finally held a hand up for them to stop.
He pulled the mask off. “Go on. It’s safe now. Let’s set camp here.”
There was a gulley. They couldn’t drink the water for fear of contamination, but there was a small rock overhang, and the switchback would give them excellent cover and also the high ground should anyone try to approach.
“I’ll set the alarms while you get the camp up.”
He gave her a long look, but then shrugged. “They’re in my pack. Do you know how to set them?”
She just looked at him before pulling the small proximity alarms from his pack. “I’ll be right back.”
Andrei listened to her through the mic system they both wore. Her breathing had calmed at last. Back in the city below, she’d been panting and not from exertion. The devastation had rocked back even the likes of him. He’d had years of training to get used to the dead, and it hadn’t been enough to stop his horror at what he’d seen.
He’d wanted to pick her up and put her face to his chest to shield her from it all. He had wished, every step of the way down there, that it had been Julian or Daniel who’d seen the damage and not her.
But now she moved with more stealth than he’d given her credit for, placing those alarms in pretty much the same places he’d have chosen. He smiled to himself as he got the shelter up. This high in the hills his breath misted as he moved. Chilly. They’d get some rest and get moving again.
Shelter up, he tossed the sleeping bags inside and pulled some food from his pack. They’d eat, he’d wrestle back his constant need for her and they’d sleep a while.