Knights of Desire [Flights of Fancy 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Melodee Aaron

  Landis pulled the silky white shirt from his body and leaned to kiss her lips. The touch was soft and gentle, like the fleeting passage of a butterfly. He pulled away to look into her eyes again.

  A small smile graced his lips. "Shane, you are so very beautiful."

  She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. Maybe it was the way his green eyes seemed to pin her in place, or maybe it was wetness in her pussy that prevented her from finding anything to say to him.

  He raised himself up onto his knees and released the buckle of the belt that held his sword at its familiar place on his side. Landis tossed the weapon and belt to the side, and then he worked his pants down and slipped them off, tossing them to join his sword.

  His cock stood out like a pole, straight and hard, as he knelt beside her, and she found the flow of moisture in her mouth matched that in her pussy. He again leaned to her, and his tongue swirled around her hard nipple as he rubbed the other with one hand. His other hand moved down her body, brushing lightly over her stomach until it reached her wet slit.

  His fingers dipped into her wetness, and his thumb pressed against her clit, rubbing and flicking the hard button. He pinched her nipple with his other hand. Shane knew her passions were high, and his actions had pushed her far along the way, but she didn't expect that when Landis bit firmly on her other nipple her orgasm would hit her so fast.

  She screamed out loud, just a string of incoherent noise, as her back arched high off the floor of the woods and her body jerked in the spasms of her climax. As she writhed, Landis fingered her pussy ever deeper, and he chewed gently on her nipple. As he pressed his hand hard on her clit, Shane's hips bucked against him, and her vision clouded with bright lights that seemed to swim in and out of both existence and focus.

  When he pulled his hand from her flowing pussy and released his grip on her nipples with his hand and mouth, Shane flopped back to the ground, her breath racing from her throat in gasping pants. He reclined beside her, and his hard cock pressed firmly against her hip. Shane pushed him onto his back and leaned over him, her tongue tracing the length of his cock from his balls up to swirl around the bulging head. When she sucked the head into her mouth, he flinched and he wrapped his fingers in her hair.

  Instead of forcing her head down onto his dick, Landis pulled her away, his cock making a wet popping sound when it slipped from between her lips.

  He took a deep breath and smiled. "No, not like that."

  Landis gripped her hips and lifted her from the ground, only to lower her onto him, straddling his hips. His hard dick rubbed delightfully between the lips of her pussy, and Shane leaned forward to kiss his lips. The wonderful explosion of his flavor again filled her mouth, and she flexed her hips slightly. The head of his cock slipped over her clit, making her jerk, and then he entered her, his girth spreading her wide and his length filling her fully.

  She sat up, taking him deep inside her pussy, and Landis moaned softly. Rocking her hips, Shane rode his cock and her moans joined his.

  His eyes fluttered closed, and he tensed under her. Landis grasped her hips tightly in his hands, and he thrust up, slamming his balls tight against her ass.

  His cock twitched and pulsed in her pussy, and his hot cum exploded deep inside of her. She bounced on him as he climaxed, his hips moving like a bull trying to throw a rider, but she stayed in the saddle and rode him until Landis collapsed back onto the floor of the forest with sweat pouring from his body and tremors rocking him.

  She leaned forward again and kissed him softly, his softening cock slipping from her pussy. Shane rested her head on his big shoulder and kissed tenderly at his neck.

  His arms slipped around her shoulders, hugging her closely to his chest.

  "I didn't want that to happen so soon." Landis sighed a little. "It's been more than seven years since I was with a woman."

  "Hush." She put her fingers on his lips, and he kissed them. "You have nothing to explain or be sorry about."

  Shane knew she was, like all Marines, a bundle of trained reflexes and nerves. She couldn't turn off the reflexes, not even in the afterglow of making love. A small noise, maybe the snapping of a stick under a foot, or perhaps the scraping of dry leaves against a boot, caught her attention, and she reacted instantly and without thought. She rolled from atop Landis, getting her bearings, only to realize too late her weapon lay under the pile of her jumpsuit eight meters away.

  She glanced at Landis, and he sat calmly on the ground, staring past her. When she followed his gaze, Shane saw Clemmons standing at the edge of the small clearing, his eyes wide as he stared at her and her lover, who also happened to be his lover.

  * * * *

  Clemmons didn't feel as shocked or as angry as he thought he might have been. After all, he just caught his lover of the past six years having sex with a woman. He should be shocked and angry.

  One problem was he was more or less expecting this to happen. Maybe he didn't expect exactly this, though. Clemmons actually expected he would be the one to end up bedding Shane. He knew he found Shane attractive, and Landis admitted the same feelings. Clemmons just thought he would be first.

  The other problem was he couldn't really be angry with Landis for doing what he himself considered. That wasn't fair.

  While Clemmons wasn't really shocked and couldn't find it in himself to be angry, it still hurt.

  Landis stood, making no attempt to cover his cock. Sweat glistened on his body, and the juices from Shane's pussy still glittered on his limp dick. He made no move to approach Clemmons when he spoke. "You may not believe me, but I planned to tell you about this, and I love you."

  Shane didn't attempt to rise from her kneeling position and covered her breasts with her arms. "I don't know what to say."

  Clemmons nodded. "I'm not sure there is anything to say. I actually do believe you, Landis. I know you love me, and I love you."

  Landis smiled and walked toward him. "I know we have some things to talk about and work out." Landis hugged him, and it felt as good as it ever did. In a word, it was wonderful.

  Clemmons closed his eyes, feeling the warmth and safety of his lover's arms around him. He heard a strange sound from Shane's direction, and he wondered if she might be sneaking away into the woods or going after her clothes.

  He opened his eyes to see Shane hadn't moved and a lizard swooped down from the sky, its claws extended to grab her from behind.

  * * * *

  At best, Shane was puzzled. At worst, she had that old what-the-fuck feeling. She grabbed the translator from where it had been next to her and Landis when they made love, hoping that understanding their words would let her understand the situation. Clemmons seemed to be taking the fact that his lover or life-partner or whoever had just fucked her very well—much better than any human she'd ever heard of would have taken the news. Especially when getting the news by catching them in the act.

  She knelt where she had landed after rolling off of Landis and sat covering her chest with her arms. She wasn't exactly sure why she still sat there instead of getting her clothes, or what was left of them, but she'd had a few too many curves thrown at her the past hour or so to really think straight.

  Landis and Clemmons stood hugging about six meters away, and they acted like they had a minor issue to resolve in their relationship. Sort of like deciding what drapes to get for the living room. The whole thing just pushed her farther off-balance than she already was.

  She saw Clemmons, who faced her as the two men embraced, open his eyes to look at her. She expected him to mouth something like, "You're dead meat, bitch." Instead, his eyes went wide again.

  Clemmons pushed Landis roughly away from him and reached for the long sword at his side. As he started to run toward her, he yelled. "Shane! Get down!"

  Landis rolled and looked then darted for where his sword rested in the pile of his clothing.

  Under normal conditions, Shane would have dropped instantly, flat enough to the ground to make a holed-up t
urtle look like a skyscraper, but too many things had happened, and she hesitated.

  A funny whishing sound behind her made Shane turn her head to look over her left shoulder. She had just enough time to realize that a dragon came at her, flying fast and nearly touching the ground, with its talons out to grab her.

  The creature hit her hard, and everything went black.

  * * * *

  Chris Harris sat on the bridge, trying to figure out how and why the Executive Officer ended up pulling a midnight watch. He occupied his time by catching up on some paperwork. At least the midnight watch was quiet. A beeping sound came from the tactical station, and the officer's reaction to it interrupted his work on the duty roster for next week.

  "Commander, we've lost telemetry on Sergeant Rawls."

  Chris frowned. That meant the tiny biosensor implant the Sergeant had in her body failed. Or she was dead. "Science, scan for her."

  "Working." The Science Officer worked her console. "Too much clutter, Sir. I can't get a fix."

  "Shit." He thought for a moment. "Communications get me either Rawls or Talbert."

  The Communications Officer tapped a few buttons. "No answer from Sergeant Rawls, but I have Lieutenant Talbert online."

  Chris pressed the switch on the command chair. "Talbert, where's Rawls?"

  "She went for a walk around the area about an hour ago, but I haven't seen her since she left."

  "We've lost her telemetry."

  "We'll go look for her."

  He thought again. "Negative. Keep everyone there in one place until you hear from us. Daedalus out." He slapped at the switch again, breaking the contact. Chris hesitated, but not long before he entered the Captain's intercom number.

  "Davis here." She sounded like she was still asleep, not too surprising for 0215.

  "Captain, we have a situation. We've lost telemetry on Sergeant Rawls, and we can't find her."

  The Captain sounded more awake with each passing second. "Damn it. I'll be there in three minutes." She clicked off.

  * * * *

  Elsa had managed not to actually run on her way to the bridge—she walked extremely fast instead. Even now, in the briefing room, she didn't have much more information than Chris had given her in the first few minutes of wakefulness. The science, tactical, and communications people had not found any trace of Rawls yet. Talbert reported from the surface that he had everyone else accounted for and at the landing zone. Fourteen minutes had passed since Rawls's vanishing act.

  She rested her elbows on the table and leaned her head on her palms. After rubbing her eyes, Elsa looked around the table at her staff.

  "OK, people, we have no reason to believe anything bad has happened, no facts to base such an assumption on. All we know is we've lost all contact with a member of the landing party, and nothing more." She took a deep breath. It drove Chris nuts when she followed the instincts the Emperor liked so much, and she suspected she was about to send him right up the bulkhead. "All that said, I've got a very bad feeling about this, and here's what we're going to do. First, Lieutenant Talbert, you and the rest of the landing party will immediately evacuate the planet."

  Talbert's face on the display screen looked pained. "Ma'am, that's a bad idea. We're making good progress with the people here, and our leaving suddenly might offend them."

  "Noted, Mr. Talbert, but in case you missed it, this isn't a democracy."

  "What will I tell the people here?"

  "You may tell them your Captain is a paranoid fool. You have your orders."

  "Yes, Ma'am." He didn't look any happier, though.

  "Second, this ship will go to a level-two alert. Captain Ells, I want a team standing by for immediate deployment to the planet if needed to recover Sergeant Rawls."

  "Yes, Ma'am." He paused for a second. "What is the level of acceptable collateral damage?"

  "Anything short of reducing the planet to molten slag."

  Chris rolled his eyes.

  "Understood, Captain. I'll have the team ready in thirty minutes."

  "Make it fifteen, and I'll be happy." She took a deep breath. "Thirdly, I want this king..." Elsa checked her notes. "King Sayid aboard this ship in ten minutes."

  Talbert's face looked ashen. "What are you saying, Captain? Are you planning on kidnapping the king?"

  "Call it what you like, but I will talk to this man. Now."

  The Science Officer shook her head. "Ma'am, I don't think I can isolate him well enough to get just the king with the transporter."

  Elsa shrugged. "Then bring his entire fucking court up here."

  Chris nodded. "What about those two knights Rawls has been talking to?"

  "I expected you to be trying to decide if I'm crazy enough to relieve of command."

  Chris chuckled. "Oh, you're crazy, but you're right too much for me to get twitchy."

  "Fair enough. If we can find them, I want to talk to them, too."

  Again the Science Officer shook her head. "I can get you the king and maybe a dozen or two of his closest friends, but I'll never find the knights without a lot of dumb luck."

  "Well, let's play dumb, then." Elsa smiled around the table. "That shouldn't be too hard. Dismissed."

  * * * *

  Landis reached his sword after Clemmons had already started charging Shane's location. In spite of his head start, Clemmons arrived too late, and that meant Landis was way too late to save Shane.

  The lizard grabbed her from behind, and its claws dug into the soft, white flesh of her shoulders and back as it lifted her from the ground. She wailed in pain and surprise, but there was nothing he or Clemmons could do but watch as the dragon carried her away to the mountains looming high above them.

  Clemmons strode to stand beside him and sheathed his sword. "Dress yourself. If we move after them now, we may catch them."

  In his mind, Landis knew Clemmons was right. They had only a slim chance, but it was the only one they had to rescue Shane. But his heart couldn't believe there was any chance at all to save her. Between the guilt he felt for making love to Shane followed so suddenly by the attack on her, a black mood gripped his soul.

  He could still see the talons ripping into her body, blood spurting from the wounds. He heard the scream that tore from her throat as the pain hit Shane. And just as with Anna, all he could do was stand there with his thoughts swirling and do nothing to help.

  Clemmons grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Landis! We are not going to do this again!"

  His mind snapped back to the now. "What?"

  "You couldn't save Anna. We had no chance to save her." His partner paused, his eyes looking like hard metal. "I admit that, in some ways, I'm not as sorry as I should be for Anna's death, because that's what brought us together. But this is different."

  His mind was getting too much information at once for him to process it fully, and he didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

  "You obviously have feelings for Shane, and so do I. Right now, all we know about her is she also has feelings for you." Clemmons sighed. "We have the chance to save Shane. I love you, Landis, and I'll die without regret if I can help you keep whatever it is you and Shane might have found."

  Landis didn't feel like he understood his emotions or thoughts any better, but he did understand what Clemmons said. "All I know for certain is I love you. I'm sorry I've hurt you."

  "No, don't be sorry. I've always felt each of us has a special person meant just for us. It does no good to apologize for fate." He chuckled. "Come on. We have to get moving."

  * * * *

  As they made their way to the briefing room near the transporter area, Elsa studied Talbert and Harris. Flanking her on each side, neither man looked at all happy. The science people had managed to narrow down King Sayid's location enough that they were able to snatch him and only three of his bodyguards from the palace instead of a couple of dozen people. One of the bodyguards had gotten a little aggressive after the transport and wouldn't put his sword down, so securit
y had stunned him.

  Talbert wasn't concerned about the guard. He was upset Elsa had kidnapped a king. Objectively, she understood his concern. This wouldn't make Talbert's job as a diplomat any easier.

  On the other hand, Chris was worried about how Fleet—Admirals Q and Reeves in particular—and the government—the Emperor and Senate in particular—would react to the kidnapping. Again, Elsa fully understood his concerns.

  But her gut told her this was the right thing to do. Leaving people on the planet, let alone sending more, would expose them to risks they didn't understand. She needed answers, and King Sayid was the man who could give them to her. Maybe she could have asked him to come talk to her, but her instincts told her he would refuse. The man had an inordinate amount of pride and attitude.

  She turned her head to the left to look at Harris. "How's the guard?"

  "Medical said he's fine, just a little goofy from the stun is all."

  Talbert spoke up. "I'd be more worried about the king's reaction than the guard's condition."

  Elsa had had it up to her eyeteeth with Talbert's snide remarks. "Lieutenant, I know you diplomatic types aren't regular Fleet, but the sooner you get it through your head this isn't a democracy, the better off you'll be."

  "Then why I am here?"

  "To advise me, give me a different perspective based on your training and experience. The bottom line is the final decisions are mine, and mine alone." She paused, getting in check the anger that tried to well up. "I'm responsible for the lives of everyone on this ship and for the ship itself. I take that responsibility very seriously. If it comes down to losing a crewmember or pissing off someone, then somebody's going to get pissed off." She hesitated and looked directly into Talbert's eyes. "If I have to, I'll blast a planet back into the stone age to save one crewmember. Do I make myself clear?"