“Does it bother you?” he asked.
“Not at all,” she said. “Should it?”
“I certainly don’t have any complaints.”
“Neither do I,” she said with a shrug. “I am who and what I am, Steel. Although, I have to say that while it’s exciting sexually, I don’t think it extends beyond the bedroom.”
“I agree,” Steel said, catching the tiny line of worry between her brows before she hid it. “This is new for me, as well, Tani. One thing I’m sure of is that I’ve no need or desire for a submissive little thing to follow me around doing whatever I say. I’ve discovered that I like strong, decisive women with a penchant for sharp blades and a heart so big that I don’t know how anything else can even fit in her tiny little body.”
“Oh yes?” she asked archly. “Did you have any particular woman in mind?”
He sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, no.”
Tani squealed indignantly, then climbed on top of him. “Just for that, I’m afraid I’m going to have to make you suffer.”
“Oh yes?” he asked, copying her inflection. She smiled wickedly, then slid slowly down his body, her hard nipples grazing his skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps in their wake. Steel wasn’t sure he was capable of another round until her hot mouth closed over his soft member and it immediately responded. He wondered if he should stop her, then rolled his eyes at himself at the idea and relaxed. As long as he remembered not to fall asleep before taking her back to Astra’s cave, there’d be nothing to worry about.
Chapter 9
“Dirk, no,” Drya said firmly, wishing she’d left Dirk in the cave sleeping rather than toting him up to the mesa so early in the morning so she could get in some target practice. Ever since he’d been attacked, she hadn’t been able to make herself leave him for more than a minute or two at a time. “You aren’t old enough to shoot a hand laser.”
“I’m not a baby,” Dirk argued. “I’m a big boy, Gunji Tani thaid tho.”
“Gunji Tani also said you must be older to learn to shoot. You have to start with learning how to throw rocks at a target.”
“But I already throw good, Grandma,” he whined, looking over at the two teenage girls who were currently shooting hand lasers at targets. “I could thoot better than thoth girlth if you let me.”
“Dirk, I’m not going to argue with you any more. You know the rules and that’s that.”
“You’re juth being mean cauth you like girlth better,” Dirk pouted.
“You need a time out, Dirk,” Drya said tiredly. “Go sit over there by the basket and think about what Gunji Tani or Steel Khaan would think if they saw your behavior right now.”
Dirk’s eyes widened. Grandma was right. They wouldn’t think he was a big boy if they’d heard him talking back to Grandma. He hated time outs, but this time he didn’t argue. Instead he went over to the basket and sat beside it, knowing that Gunji Tani, Steel Khaan, and the other adults he looked up to so much would all be ashamed of his behavior. He glanced at the basket of laser guns the women had carried up to the mesa to use for target practice, then deliberately put his hands behind his back.
“Don’t you touch that basket, Dirk,” Drya warned him. He puffed his lower lip out and gave her his most hurt look. It had been wrong of him to argue with his grandmother who took care of him and loved him since his mother and father had been killed by the dirty Nomen. He knew that. But he would never sneak behind her back. That would be like stealing, or lying.
Drya nodded, then turned around to take her turn at the practice targets. Dirk watched the women for a few minutes, then began to grow bored and sleepy. He was thinking about lying down when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head slowly, then froze in shock and fear.
***
Tani sat alone before the fireplace in Astra’s cave, her weapons spread around her, sharpening stone in hand, thinking about the news she’d shared with Steel and Astra just half an hour earlier. Learning that her parents would arrive the following day, and Nica’s ICARUS ship the day after that, should have been an enormous relief to her. But it wasn’t.
Astra had immediately leapt to her feet and gone running to the women’s cave to share the news. Steel hadn’t displayed quite as much enthusiasm, but he’d seemed happy too, and left shortly after Astra to tell the men. Tani sat staring at the flames while she finished her coffee, chastising herself for being hurt by Steel’s reaction. He had every reason to be happy that help was finally arriving for his people, and she was, in truth, happy for them as well.
But that didn’t stop her from wondering what the future held for her. She loved Steel, of that she had no doubt. She even believed that they were meant to be together. But she didn’t know if he felt the same way about her. Steel had shown every sign of caring for her during their time together. He was protective, and attentive, and he’d told her that he adored her and that he admired her. But he’d never said he loved her. Even more telling was the fact that, although they spent a good part of every evening together in his cave, in his bed, he was always careful to make sure she returned to her own bed in Astra’s cave for the night. He’d told her, more than once, that if she spent a full night with him, the Khun would immediately assume that they intended to marry. He’d made no secret of how much he wanted to avoid any assumptions of that sort.
Tani finished her breakfast, cleaned up the dishes, got dressed and gathered her weapons to clean and sharpen while she thought about the situation. Maybe it was time for her to tell him how she felt, she decided. If he felt the same way, that would be glorious. On the other hand, if he didn’t feel the same way, well, her parents would be here tomorrow, so she could just leave. Like she’d told Astra, she really had nothing to lose.
Satisfied with her decision, she’d just finished cleaning and sharpening her swords when the sound of excited voices reached her. She got up, waking Wily who’d been sleeping on her shoulder, and stepped out onto the ledge.
“Tani,” Astra said reaching the ledge at the same time as Tani, the fear and worry in her voice a clear enough warning that something was wrong.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
“The Nomen are coming,” Astra replied, her lips white with fear. “They’ll reach the valley any moment now.”
“Where’s Steel?”
“At the armory,” Astra said.
“All right, get back to the women’s cave, tell everyone to arm themselves, and then put the children and the weakest women in the back cave, just like we planned, all right?”
“Yes, of course,” Astra said, making a visible attempt to calm herself.
“Good,” Tani said, giving her friend a gentle pat before turning back toward the cave entrance.
“Tani…,” Astra began, then hesitated.
“Go, Astra,” Tani said. “No, wait. Take Wily with you.” Wily mewled his objections, but Tani was firm this time. “You go with Astra and help her watch over the children, Wily.”
Wily nodded his head reluctantly before climbing onto Astra’s hand. She put him on her shoulder, then turned and hurried away. Tani ran inside for her weapons and left the cave while still tying the shuriken pouches to her belt loops.
She paused to look down into the valley below where the battle had just begun, and smiled. There were only about forty Khun warriors down there so far, but her ears had no trouble picking up the sounds of dozens of men arming themselves in the caves above her. She wasn’t sure they’d be needed though since there were only about thirty Nomen down there.
Cake, she decided, relaxing. After many long days of working with the men on their battle skills, she had complete confidence in them. Though they hadn’t recognized it in themselves, it hadn’t taken her long to realize that the men were natural warriors, as were most of the women. All they’d needed was someone to teach them, and help fine tune some of their rapidly developing skills.
There was no need for her to go racing down there. In fact, it would be b
est for the men if she stayed back. The one thing they needed most was confidence in their growing abilities, and this battle would give them a good start.
She continued watching for a few more moments, then nodded to herself, satisfied that the Khun were making quick work of the Nomen. She turned and began making her way across the face of the cliff toward the women’s cave. She was almost there when Astra came running out, looked around, spotted her and started talking as she ran toward her.
***
Nomen. A whole bunch of them. Coming down the side of the mountain way at the other end where no one was looking. The women were standing by the targets that were set up right against the mountain and didn’t see them at all. He opened his mouth to scream, but it died in his throat when one of the Nomen fired a gun into the small group, and Ruya fell to the ground.
Dirk wanted to take a hand laser from the basket and shoot the Nomen for being so mean to Ruya, but Grandma had told him not to touch them and he’d already gotten in enough trouble for one day. He watched the Nomen as they shoved and pushed and hit the women, including Grandma, and took all their guns away. Dirk saw blood on Grandma’s lip and decided that this time, he had to break a rule and accept the punishment for it later. He reached into the basket and grabbed a hand laser really fast, then slid it into the back of his shorts and tugged his shirt down over it.
He continued to sit there, his heart pounding too loudly in his chest, until one of the Nomen finally saw him and ordered him to get up. He got to his feet and started crying on purpose, like he was a baby and not a big boy at all. He ran to his grandmother and wrapped his arms around one of her legs, then fell silent so that the Nomen wouldn’t notice him any more. Grandma’s hand pressed gently against his shoulder, and he squeezed her back, but didn’t dare tell her about the hand laser. Then one of the Nomen picked Ruya up and the rest ordered them to follow them to the far end of the mesa, then start climbing.
***
“Astra, please, slow down,” Tani said, not understanding a word she was saying.
“There’s a group of women and children up on the mesa doing target practice,” she said.
“How many?”
“Eight,” Astra replied. “Drya and Dirk are with them.”
“Go back inside, I’ll get them,” Tani said, then turned and began running straight up the face of the cliff, something none of the Khun could do. Steel was standing outside the armory cave watching as another fifty or so of his men joined the battle in the valley when he saw Tani running in his direction. He expected her to join him, but frowned when he saw that she wasn’t even looking in his direction.
By the time he realized that she had no intention of stopping, and that she was going up to the mesa, she’d already passed him. He hesitated, thinking, before understanding that some of the women and children must be up there having target practice. He took off immediately, running as fast as he could in Tani’s wake. Just before he reached the top, a Nomen head flew past him, a graphic reminder of her statement that most creatures couldn’t live without a head. Tani sure doesn’t waste any time, he thought grimly.
Then he was up on the mesa, his eyes taking in the situation even as two Nomen ran toward him. He pulled his sword with one hand, a laser with the other and stepped into the fray, something he wouldn’t have done with as much relish before Tani’s lessons.
He shot the furthest Nomen in the face with the laser, then raised his sword, stabbing straight into the second Nomen’s throat. The Nomen went down, taking his sword, so he reached down and pulled the other hand laser from the holster on his hip and thumbed the safety off.
He saw Tani throw her short swords into the sheaths on her back with one fluid motion, and felt a twinge of disappointment that he’d missed seeing her use them. Then her hands flew to the pouches at her waist, then up, then out, in gestures so fast it was hard to tell what she was doing. He wasn’t the least surprised to see that every shuriken she threw found a target. He counted six Nomen who went down and didn’t get back up. Then she reached up and grabbed the handles of the short swords on her back and drew them again.
Steel nearly smiled. He was looking forward to this…or…maybe not. Terror struck him at the sight of her tiny body running toward an enormous Nomen, then his mouth fell open as she leapt high into the air, one sword in each hand. She flipped so that she was upside down directly over the Nomen’s head, then both swords flashed and she was on the ground behind the Nomen who was still standing even though his head was rolling away in the red dirt.
By the time Steel managed to drag his eyes away from that morbid sight, she’d already spun around to face two new opponents, both of them easily three times her size as all the Nomen were. Steel could hardly believe his eyes when she went down on one knee between them, and struck with both swords, slicing through one leg of each Nomen at once. Both went down.
The leg of the Nomen on her right was flesh and blood, so it was no surprise to see its owner’s mouth open wide in a high scream as he fell and began rolling around on the ground. Steel ran forward and shot him in the head, putting him out of his misery. He then shot two more who thought to interfere before turning to guard Tani’s back.
The leg of the Nomen on her left was bio-tronic, but she cut through it as cleanly as she’d cut through the flesh and blood leg. That Nomen felt no pain, but he’d fallen to the ground on his remaining knee and hadn’t yet figured out how he was supposed to stand up with only one leg. That brief moment of inattention was all that Tani needed. She jumped to her feet, spun around to get as much momentum as possible and cut through the Nomen’s neck.
Her eyes met Steel’s when she realized that he’d already dispatched the other Nomen for her. She nodded her thanks, then turned to look for a new opponent.
Steel’s heart lodged in his throat when he saw a Nomen raise a hand laser and aim it at Tani. Knowing he was too far away to be sure of hitting the Nomen, he raised his own hand laser anyway, silently promising to practice more diligently in the future. Once again, Tani surprised him. She ran straight at the Nomen, as seemed to be her way since she kept doing it, then leapt up into the air once again. The Nomen followed her body with the hand laser, shooting twice and missing both times as his arm rose higher and higher until it was almost straight up. Tani had reached the apex of her leap and was on her way back down when she struck, slicing the Nomen’s arm off at the elbow with one sword. Half a second later she landed on her feet behind and facing the Nomen’s back. He was still standing, barely having had time to realize what had happened yet, so his neck was much too high for her to reach. She went for the spine instead, plunging both swords directly into the middle of the Nomen’s back, then giving each a sharp twist. The Nomen screamed and fell face first to the ground, alive but paralyzed.
Tani looked for her next opponent only to find Steel finishing off the last two Nomen with his hand lasers, both having been disabled by her shuriken a few moments earlier. She watched, not even out of breath, while he went back to another fallen Nomen, turned him over, and freed his sword. Tani smiled, proud of how well he’d done.
***
At first Dirk was afraid the gun would fall out of his shorts, but he’d been growing fast lately, and all of his clothes were getting a little bit tight, so the gun remained in place. As he climbed beside his grandmother, he wondered if he should try to shoot the Nomen himself. As he looked around at all the big men with guns, he asked himself what Gunji Tani or Steel Khaan would say about that, and knew immediately they wouldn’t like it. He didn’t even know how to turn a hand laser on.
He heard a shout and looked down, then smiled when he saw Gunji Tani use her swords to kill one of the Nomen. It was kind of gross, but he watched anyway until one of the Nomen threatened to shoot them if they didn’t climb faster. He reached a broad ledge on the side of the mountain above the mesa right after his grandmother and looked back down, surprised that only three of the Nomen had remained with them. The rest were down on the me
sa fighting with Gunji Tani and Steel Khaan.
He wanted to watch, but Grandma took hold of his hand as they were forced to run to an enormous ground transport, which kind of scared him because he didn’t remember seeing anything like it before. No one else was afraid of it though, so he pretended he wasn’t either. He was glad when they were all put into the back of it so they could sit together in a circle with Ruya lying on the floor in the middle. Then the Nomen got in the vehicle and it took off, going so fast Dirk could hardly believe it at first. He looked at Grandma, who patted him lightly to let him know it was okay. Dirk didn’t think it was okay at all, but he pretended it was so Grandma didn’t get upset again.
***
“Where are the women and children?” Steel asked, and Tani shook her head. She hadn’t seen them. She ran over to the back of the mesa where it met the mountainside and checked to be sure they weren’t hiding behind the rocks piled up there to hold targets. She shook her head.
“They must have taken them,” Steel growled.
“We have to stop them, Steel,” she said. “They’ll use the hostages to force the Khun to return to the mine.” Steel nodded as he hurried over to where a few of the Nomen had fallen and traded his depleted weapons for theirs. As he rose to his feet, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see one Nomen, not quite dead, raise a hand laser and aim it at Tani. Steel took two running steps and kicked the weapon out of the Nomen’s hand
“Honey, that’s gonna leave a mark,” Tani chastised gently. Steel aimed his hand laser at the Nomen’s head and pulled the trigger, then turned back to Tani and shrugged.
“I don’t think he’ll notice, Khalute,” he said, then shifted. Tani ran toward him and leapt up into his arms, then kissed him on his enormous mahrac jaw.
“The Nomen came down the mountain over there,” she said, pointing toward an area that showed clear signs of disturbance. Steel took off, flying up the side of the mountain. As soon as they found the place where the Nomen had parked their ground transport, they both heard the deep rumble of its engines. Steel immediately changed direction and flew after it.
Tani's Destiny (Hearts of ICARUS Book 2) Page 25