by Lauren Dane
Vincenz groaned, hugging her tight. “No. No. Never. Your place is with me and Julian. Beside us, between us.”
“Below too. Oh and above.” Julian hugged her other side as he moved them back to the shallows so they could stand.
“Let’s lay out the blanket and have a snack. We can talk more.” Vincenz got out and bent to find the blanket to spread while Hannah found the food and sat between them, her legs stretched, arms behind her, supporting her weight.
“I met Marame right after I got to basic training. I told you I grew up in an orphanage. So I never really had anyone I considered to be family until the corps.” Julian lay flat, looking up at the ceiling and back into the past. She waited, so happy he would share, not wanting to spook him.
“I remember my parents. Or rather the last time I saw them. We were refugees from Catan. After the earthquakes there, the government sent in airlifts to take people out and move them to camps in other ’Verses. It was chaos. No food. Scant water. Not enough spots on the transport out. My mother shoved to the front of the line and tossed me into the crowd on the landing deck. I never saw her again. Them again. The records don’t show them ever leaving.”
Catan had been rendered virtually uninhabitable after a series of major earthquakes, which had started fires and all manner of other natural disasters. No one lived there now and it was only visited by researchers. Millions had died.
He hadn’t saved them, she realized. Realized that even at three he’d seen it as his fault. He hadn’t saved them and he’d grown up alone.
“Ellis saved my life and gave me a second chance. A third chance I suppose. But Marame became my family. The sister and mother I never had. She was my best friend. The person I trusted above all others. She always had my back. She never judged me. She made me laugh. Made every day better and that she’s gone is such a fucking crime there are days I can barely get through because it hurts that I can’t talk to her again. That I can never introduce you to her. She’d have loved you, by the way.”
Hannah tried hard not to cry again, but his pain echoed through his skin where she’d laid her palm over his heart.
“And so last night I was buying you some sweets and a woman from the tavern recognized me. Asked about Marame. And she wasn’t there. She was gone and I had no good reason for it and the stupidity of it sent me reeling. How can I say she’s dead and have it just be words? There’s no reason for it. None. It was pointless. And empty. And I can’t take it back and make it not be true.” And this strong man nearly sobbed as he said the last.
She lay beside him, curling into his body her hand clasped with Vincenz’s, who bracketed Julian’s other side.
“And sometimes I am so angry. I want to kill and maim, I want to rip people to shreds for taking my family away again. But never you. Do you understand me?”
She looked up at him and nodded. “Of course.”
He seemed satisfied with that. “I didn’t save her. I lived and she didn’t and I feel guilty about it. And I look at you and then I don’t. Which makes me feel guilty all over again.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t meet her. I’m sorry she was murdered. I’m sorry you have a hole inside where she used to be.”
He laughed, rueful. “You and Vin fill my empty spaces. Even the jagged ones. I didn’t mean it when I made the comment about fixing you. Gods, I’m sorry. You get to me and it makes me nervous because I can’t defend against you. You lay me bare.”
She attempted to keep her bottom lip from trembling but failed. “I know you didn’t. I mean, I wasn’t totally sure and then I was worried I’d misread things and I’m not good with this, or with people and so I …”
He hauled her up, on top of him, his grip on her upper arms tight but not brutal and kissed every doubt out of her. He kissed her until she wasn’t sure where her breath ended and his breath began. And it didn’t matter.
His tongue slid into her mouth like a thief, sinuous, sensual, his taste making itself at home within her. He grabbed two handfuls of her ass and ground her against his cock. He nipped her lips, her chin, took a handful of her hair and pulled, angling her head to get at her neck.
He rolled her over, looming above her, eyes glittering in the low light, intent. He rained kisses across her face, over her closed eyes, the curve of her cheeks, back to her mouth where he took a long, leisurely tour.
“Hands and knees.”
It was a good thing, as her knees were so rubbery she couldn’t have stood.
He gave her ass three sharp smacks, at first because the sound appealed to him, but then for the pretty pink handprint.
“Get over here, Vin, and put your cock in that pretty mouth.”
Vincenz got to his knees, caressing her hip as he leaned closer to Julian. “I need your mouth first.”
Julian shivered and then gave over to the wonder of Vincenz’s kiss. The sure, aggressive way his tongue slid over the seam of his lips and then inside. Vincenz tasted when he kissed. He sampled in little licks and then moved in to devour, as he did now.
Impatient for his cock, Hannah shifted and he slapped her ass another time, reveling in her squeal that ripened into a moan when he drew his fingertips over the spot, her skin hot to the touch.
It was his turn to moan as Vincenz sucked his tongue, fluttering his own against it. Julian’s cock was so hard it could feel the pound, pound, pound of his pulse there.
Vin pulled back and then back in to kiss the base of his throat.
“That’s better.” He got back to Hannah, hunching to kiss her and swallow her cries as Julian wrapped her hair around his fist and pulled as he pressed his cock into her cunt.
Wet.
“Already wet.”
She pushed back to meet him, sucking his cock in deep and bringing stars to his vision it felt so fucking good.
He yanked a little harder on her hair and her pussy rippled around him. That she responded the way she did made him feel like a king. Only he and Vin knew this part of her. This dirty, gorgeous woman who gave herself so freely.
“I wish I’d brought the clamps,” Vincenz murmured as he broke the kiss.
“You used the clamps and I wasn’t there?”
Vincenz grinned up at him. “They’re in the drawer next to my side of the bed if you want to use them. Her nipples get so hard and puffy. And when I took them off …” He looked back down to her face tipped up from the grip Julian had in her hair. “When I took them off she came hard.” He reached down and rubbed the head of his cock over her lips as Julian dug in and began to fuck her in deep, hard thrusts.
“Do you want this?”
“Yes.” She licked her lips and Julian heard and saw Vincenz’s breath hitch.
Provocative without even meaning to be. Seven hells, she was so powerful in her submission. It drove him to his metaphorical knees. The way he knew it did for Vincenz too.
“Don’t neglect her clit.” Vincenz gave in and began the slow press into her mouth.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I love her clit.”
The two of them grinned, but then she tightened around his cock and he grunted. Vin’s grunt echoed as Julian stretched forward to watch her suck Vin’s cock, her tongue flat, pressing against the underside, just beneath the crown.
“He does like it right like that.”
Vincenz couldn’t tear his gaze from the sight of her mouth on his cock. Except that she gave him her eyes, just like he’d demanded. She gave him his pleasure and remembered his command. Which only made him hotter for her.
“I want to fuck your face.” He sighed and she whimpered. Not in pain or distress.
Julian reached around her body and found her clit, swollen, hard and slick. He tickled it lightly until her sweet moans took on an edge of frustration.
“Do you want me to make you come?”
He was surprised he could get the words out around his clenched teeth. She felt so good the only thing holding him back from coming was his attention on her clit.
She squirmed, slamming back against him several times, pushing him hard and right to the very knife’s edge. He squeezed gently, plumping her clit between his thumb and forefinger and she arched her back, making needy, demanding sounds around a mouthful of Vin’s cock.
“Seven hells, your cunt is so hot and tight. Each time I squeeze your clit it’s like a molten wave of flesh rippling around me. So. Fucking. Good.”
But he didn’t want to go without her so he added a little more pressure and that did the trick. She began to come, straining to push back and keep him deep as she spasmed around him so hard it pulled him right in and he came along with her as he fucked her deep, continuing to hold her hair, controlling her as he did.
Vincenz waited until Julian pulled out before he went back to work. “Now then, suck me the way I like it, beautiful Hannah.”
He took her hair from Julian and yanked hard enough to elicit a startled cry from her. A cry that deepened into a moan as he let loose and thrust.
He’d wanted to fuck her face every time she got his cock in her mouth, but had held back, thinking she might not be ready.
But as usual, Hannah had her own mind and was far stronger and eager than he’d given her credit for.
“You hungry for it? Hmm?”
She hummed her assent as he thrust harder. She adjusted her breathing as he continued.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are this way? Hands and knees. Handprints on your sweet ass. All that gorgeous hair wrapped around my fist as I fuck that mouth of yours. And you love it. I don’t know what I did to deserve this dream come true, but rest assured, Hannah, it’s my plan to make you so satisfied for the rest of your days you’ll never want for anything. But my cock.”
She whimpered again. A needy sound that traveled up the stalk of him, up to the head, where she occasionally slid her tongue though the slit, and down to his balls.
He didn’t have much time left. After her tears he was already laid to waste, and then Julian spoke about his childhood and losing Marame and that was more than he could bear. He needed to bury himself in them, in this thing they’d all created together.
Her tits swayed so prettily.
“I think we should get your nipples pierced. They’ll look even prettier when I come all over them.”
She closed her eyes just a moment before opening them again just as he began to come. “Take it, sweet Hannah. Swallow it all.”
And she did.
Chapter 24
Wil rose from his chair and addressed the room. A gathering of the top Family members who had the sort of clearance they’d need to hear what he was about to say.
“We have destroyed the Imperium’s ability to make the portal-collapsing devices. They will be unable to procure the key ingredient, Liberiam, which is found in only a few scattered ’Verses, all of them on our side of the line. We’ve installed detectors for air quality tests on each of them. If Liberiam is mined, we’ve found out it gives off a specific chemical signature. We can detect this signature with our tests.”
No one took notes; they wouldn’t have been allowed to leave the room with them anyway. So they nodded and if they had questions, Wil knew they’d ask.
“Up until recently this was the biggest threat Ciro Fardelle posed to us. We’re a superior fighting force. We have more soldiers with better equipment and training. We’ve finally achieved the upper hand in Silesia. So much that we’re able to declare it ours. The other edge ’Verses will go the same.”
“What of casualties?” Vicktor Pela, the leader of House Pela asked. The man had been through the last battles at Varhana. Had lost an arm leading his column to victory there. He understood the costs of war better than most.
“Ours are minor. Theirs are not.” They would of course continue to keep their aim locked on military targets to keep the counts as low as possible for civilians, but that was a fact of war and not one he liked to ignore. But they would continue and there was no way around it.
Pela nodded and indicated Wil should continue.
“As I said, up until recently we’d thought Fardelle’s portal-collapsing device was our biggest worry. New data has come to light that this is not so. Fardelle has been testing a bio-weapon. A virus containing the most virulent and hearty elements of several of the most deadly viruses we’ve seen in the history of humanity. We don’t know where he got the stock originally, but we know he’s tested it on civilians, including his young son, who died after exposure.”
The room roiled with angry outbursts and Ellis understood it. But they needed to get focused again so he rapped on the table with his knuckles. Roman smirked behind the hands he had steepled in front of his mouth, knowing Ellis could handle this but clearly amused by it.
“Hold your questions to the end, if you will, please. We’ve got our teams working on this at the highest priority. We’ve got specialists in virology consulting with us on not only identifying this virus but finding it and destroying it properly and removing any data there may be concerning this virus. This is not something we’re taking public at this time. The panic would be devastating. We’ve got enough on our plates at this point that to add this would be foolish. And dangerous. There is no reason to believe this virus has made it into our territory. But we do know there are links between a cross-border initiative, some of whose members were kidnapped and held against their will, subjected to mental and physical torture to obtain information. This information was not given by the Federated Universes’ citizen who we freed. I’ve viewed her debrief, both a physical one on multiple occasions and just recently she submitted to a mental debrief. You should understand this woman was subjected to forms of torture designed to break her mind so submitting to our mental debrief process was a great sacrifice on her part.”
He took a deep breath. Hannah Black was an unlikely savior, but saviors were rarely likely in his experience anyway.
“We are working with public health agencies on each Federated Universe under the guise of general preparedness. We have key personnel on our teams who can guide these agencies in having plans in place should a virus of this nature be released here in our territory, while keeping the specifics on a need-to-know basis.”
They asked him questions for some time after he’d completed his presentation. He’d assured them the best he could, given the reality of the situation. He knew there was a team heading to Caelinus right as he spoke bent on destroying not only the lab and the virus stocks but Fardelle himself. They didn’t need to know that information at this point and if things went as planned, no one ever needed to.
He hoped they went as planned.
He hurried out, late as usual for the next meeting. Such was his life since all this nonsense with the Imperium started.
His secretary gave him a narrow-eyed glance. “Have you eaten at all today?”
“I think so.” Wil shuffled through the pile of papers he was sure were all important but found nothing so pressing the world would blow up if he didn’t deal with right then.
“You could delegate some of this work to Daniel, you know.”
A shiver went through him at the voice as he turned slowly to face Katrine Rooney. Today she wore one of those skirts, form hugging, tight at the knee so she’d walk just right. Along with a crisp white shirt. Her hair pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. Her eyes were so blue they reminded him of the sky back on Kwen Lun where he’d spent his first years. Before his parents had …
He shook his head to get rid of that memory.
“I’m sorry I’m late for our meeting. The last one went long.”
She laughed and walked closer in those heels. Click, click, click. He wondered if underneath that skirt she wore garters. Something he frequently wondered about where Katrine was concerned. She’d taken over from her predecessor a standard year before and had done a far more competent job than he had. This had surprised Wilhelm because he was sure no one would take a woman who looked the way she did seriously.
Bu
t she was no ordinary woman. Bold. Sharp. Smart. She brooked nothing but the finest performance from everyone in her department. Since she’d come on, the relationship between the military corps and other branches of Federated governance had improved. Streamlined.
“Reuss contacted me to let me know. I always have other work and I know this is a busy time for you.” She put a hand on her hip. “Come with me. I’m starving and you certainly need to eat as well.” She winked at Reuss and he blushed. Wilhelm was fairly sure he’d never seen the man blush except when Abbie visited him. But she made everyone blush.
Just business, he told himself. He could have lunch with her and do his job. They had an appointment anyway.
Vincenz checked his kit bag one last time. Julian had gone into mission headspace and so Vincenz left him alone.
Hannah was doing an inventory of her bag across from him at the small, rough-hewn table. They’d made it to Monteh and had holed up in a safe house his connections had procured for them.
They’d head from here to a private portal, one of the last remaining in the Imperium, and straight to Caelinus. Full circle, he supposed. It felt odd, being back in the Imperium this far. Silesia was close enough to what the Edge felt like in Federated Territory. But Monteh was close to Caelinus; the culture was strikingly similar.
The carts at the edge of the town’s main street had been selling seeded tea cakes. His grandmother, YaYa they’d called her, would serve cakes just like it when Vincenz and his sister Carina would spend their afternoons with her.
He’d spent a lot of time pretending not to miss this place that wasn’t only his home, but all the ’Verses he’d been raised and trained to lead when he was old enough to take over from his father.
Before they’d left Mirage, Wilhelm had spoken with him privately. Asked him if he’d be willing to lead the Imperium after the war was over. He’d been taken aback, not even knowing how to answer.