by K. A. M'Lady
Blood rushed in her ears. Uncertainty spiraled her down the corridor at break-neck speed. What the hell did I get myself into? I’m just a damn singer. I’m no one, she thought, desperately spying two turns up ahead and wondering which way to go.
You are everything, Leah. Draven’s voice in her mind sent chills coursing through her. Turn left, then right. There is a grate four slides down in the floor that will take you to the engine room. Hurry. Ook and I are coming for you, but you must hide.
Draven? How…how are you inside of me – in my head? I’m so scared. What the hell is happening to me? Leah ranted, fear, need and anger getting the better of her. She quickly cut left then right as directed and scurried down the hall, stopping where the fourth grate revealed a door beneath its slotted mat.
With a groan, Leah bent and lifted the tile, reached for the door beneath and shimmied down the opening. All the while her heart raced, her palms sweat and she felt like she would vomit at a second’s notice. One last quick glance back down the hall and she closed the door, the grate falling back into place.
From the dimly lit engine room, Leah spied all sorts of electrical gadgets and gizmos, each one lighting up the small, enclosed space. The soft purr of the engine settling her nerves, if for but a moment. Draven? She questioned hesitantly.
My light, we are here. Have no fear. We are right behind you. We won’t let Kantella hurt you again. Just stay hidden until we can reach you. Ook and I are coming for you.
The promise in his voice stayed her nerves, calmed her erratic mind and gave her a comfort she hadn’t felt since before this crazy journey had begun. Find a place to hide beneath the warmth of the thrusters. He won’t be able to pick up your heat signature there. Leah blinked and the image appeared in her mind, Draven showing her the way.
Beneath the right side of one of the main panels of what appeared to hold the most of the ship’s control buttons and flashing lights, there was another panel. With a push, Leah popped it open, and beneath it, wiring was wrapped tightly to a main box. Here there was just enough space for a body to curl inside and hide. Closing the panel door, Leah said a small prayer that they would reach her in time.
* * * * * *
Kuthar had joined them in the docking bay, his pale eyes taking in the scope and brevity of the situation. When his eyes met Draven’s he quietly stated, “There is a change to you, brother. A calmness I have not seen before.”
Draven smiled a half-dark, knowing smile despite the turmoil that warred within him. His heart was heavy with worry, but at the same time soothed with the knowledge that soon his spirit would be fully bound to his soulmate’s. “I cannot leave her to Kantella’s tender mercies,” he replied sedately. “She will not survive in his care. And what is mine I do not leave to the hands of another.”
“We will reach her in time,” Ook told him reassuringly, a gentle hand on his shoulder.
The heat of Ook’s hand on Draven tingled, warmth spreading through his limbs, enveloped him. With every magically enduced blink he swore he could see Leah clearly. In the glimmering shine behind his eyes, he swore she stood before them. He stilled and reached for Ook’s hand.
Images flashed through his mind; Leah naked, her soft, lithe body filling their hands. Both of them filling her body and soul while she moaned in passion, her need a chorus of delight.
Both men stepped away from each other, their bodies taut with desire, eyes wide with hunger and unspoken words as the images danced in each other’s eyes.
“Your auras merged,” Kuthar stated in awe, drawing them away from the memory. “I have not seen the likes of such a joining in…” Kuthar’s voice trailed, memory and knowledge filling in the gaps of the unspoken. “So it is true?”
“It is my hope,” Draven told him, blinking away the mystical desire.
“Then you must waste no more time. Find her. At any cost. If you have need of me, you know how to reach me.”
Draven watched his elder brother leave the docking bay, his back rigid, a lifetime of responsibility resting upon his shoulders. Kuthar had been born to lead, bread to rule and educated to be both a King and a warrior of the most elite warriors in the galaxy. But it was an empty existence. Draven knew it only too well. For all of their sakes, he could not fail.
With everything set, their ship left the bay, Draven set the course to follow quickly on Kantella’s trail. They knew he was taking her back to earth, and they would do everything in their power to save her.
“We will be in time, Draven. Do not fear.” Ook’s voice was like a soothing balm against Draven’s skin, easing away the tension. He knew his words rang true. They’d both seen her, spoken to her, gotten her to safety as best they could, for now. Unfortunately, now they could only wait. Wait for Kantella’s next move. Wait for their ships to land. Wait for the unexpected.
“Tell me of our vision,” Draven stated, turning to look upon the dark, fire-filled eyes of his new blood-bound mate. For that is what Ook now was. Draven had read their history; heard the stories of the old-ways. But he, like Kuthar, had never realized their truth. Until he’d felt his connection with Leah, tasted her blood, felt her unrecognized desires for the Darengy in the hidden depths of her unconscious mind. Felt the knowledge, need and longing.
Ook was their third. A part of their union. He was a part that would complete their trion and make them whole. The instant Ook’s blood had fallen upon his tongue, slipped past his lips, Draven had known it to the core of his being.
“Do you wish for me to tell you, or to show you?” Ook questioned, a dark look of unspoken hunger spiraling in his eyes.
They reached for each other, Ook’s hand to Draven’s heart, Draven’s lips against the rapidly pulsing vein in Ook’s neck. “Drink,” Ook whispered, “and know.”
When his canines broke the surface of Ook’s flesh, he could see every detail like a waking dream. Ook, beautiful, strong and naked before him, the cut of muscles shimmering with a soft, glowing light. His staff, long and hard, extended before him.
Like a voyeur he watched as Ook knelt before the pale glow of lithe limbs and long legs; his large blue fingers trailing curves he longed to touch again; yearned to hold in his own hands, taste against his tongue. When Ook lifted the leg before him, curling it over his shoulder and spread the wet, swollen lips, Draven felt his own hardness press against the barriers of his clothes.
Knowing fingers reached for Leah’s tender folds and her scent engulfed him, filled his every pore. Draven swore he felt her desire stream across the pads of his fingers as they opened her, his tongue delving to taste her.
With a groan of longing and madness Draven tore away from Ook, his chest thundering, his eyes black with deadly desire.
Ook reached for him, pressed his lips to Draven’s, and swept them apart, delving to swallow his stunned cry with a groan of his own. Despite the distance that separated them, Leah’s desire was hot against each of their mouths, and they hadn’t even touched her. When they finally separated, both gasping for air, a feral look of unspent fire burned in both of their eyes. They knew that it would be like this always.
She was the piece that would complete them. The part that would fill the emptiness inside of them. They had to reach her, before the fire she was building inside them raged out of control.
* * * * * *
From the darkness of her concealed hiding spot Leah closed her eyes and prayed that Draven and Ook would reach her before Kantella found her. Prayed that he would never hurt her again.
With a sigh, she let the quiet and the dark settle around her, listening to the beat of her heart slow; a quiet calm began to envelop her. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander. Let it fill with visions of Draven and Ook, her dark warriors, her protectors.
She could almost see them perfectly in the darkness. Their presence haunted her. Filled her with yearning. Through the darkness of desire and the desperation of hope, it was as though she could feel them both holding her in their large, massive arms. One pois
ed before her, the other behind. Both holding her, claiming her, body and soul. Their hands touched, explored, warmed her flesh.
Unbidden, desire pooled in her belly. Tightened things lower. Each erotic thought made her wetter. The desire more intense. The need darker. She wanted them, both of them. Touching her. Tasting her. Filling all of her needs and theirs.
“Stupid whore!” Kantella’s voice ripped through the darkness like an icy dip in a winter stream. “I know you’re in here somewhere. I smell you like a bitch in heat.” He cussed, opening and slamming panel doors. “Do not fool yourself into thinking that my heartless brother will come for you. You are used goods. Unfit for man or beast.”
His growl reverberated up Leah’s spine, his ugly words sticking in her throat. She wanted to lash out at him, rail and scream that he was a liar. But she knew that he taunted her. That he used his ugliness to tempt her into betraying herself. Draven would come for her. He and Ook were on their way now. She just had to give them more time.
In desperation, she reached up towards the panel of wires wrapped tightly above her head and pulled the closest one out of its connector, praying that it wouldn’t cause the whole ship to explode. Just a minor system malfunction, she prayed. After a few seconds, when nothing happened, she decided to pull out another, and then another. Soon two became four and then four became eight. Before she’d realized what she’d done, the ship veered sharply left, a warning bell erupting along with a bright red glow that lit up everything, including the inside of Leah’s hiding place.
Kantella’s curses split the sound of the warning as the ship plummeted. “Fuck! What have you done? You’ve fucking killed us!” Kantella bellowed, his booted foot slamming against the panel of her hiding spot, crushing its center, on his way out of the room.
All around her the blare of the warning signal ripped through the ship. She knew she had to get out of her cubby-hole; see what was going on before the ship crashed or exploded. With that terrifying thought in her head, Leah pressed against the paneling. It was stuck. The ship plummeted again, turned sharply and began a spiral that caused the bile to rise in the back of her throat.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Leah swore, twisting in her cubby, trying to get her feet positioned so she could kick at the panel. Draven! Ook! Where the hell are you? She screamed in her head. We’re freaking crashing! Her last words were uttered with a grunt as she kicked against the dented panel door.
Leah! She heard echo in unison tumbling from the cubby, rolling across the floor as the ship slammed against something hard, jerked left roughly and the right. It bounced and screeched while she slammed against the floor and walls, her head striking a corner. Her vision swam as the ship flipped over, sending her careening like a rag doll against the wall. Darkness consumed her vision.
Chapter Eight
Draven and Ook felt the turmoil settle against their bones like a blade. Something was terribly wrong.
“My connection to her is fading,” Draven said, his voice holding the ache of his fears. He didn’t even want to think of the prospect of losing her, having finally found her. It was a wound he knew he’d never be able to bear.
“It is weak,” Ook agreed. “I feel it as well, but there is always hope,” he stoically replied.
With a sigh of resignation, Draven turned back to the controls. The ship slipped into the earth’s atmosphere, cloaked and silent. They had managed to avoid all of the standard radar systems that would normally track planes or other unidentified objects. Like grey clouds along the skyline, they skulked into Earth’s atmosphere unimpeded.
Draven set the coordinates to track his ship, honing in on the locating device that would notify them as soon as they were within range. Carefully, they scanned the horizon; the dark haze of city lights blurring against the backdrop of pollution and humanity. Moments ticked along while worry settled like a weight in his gut. What felt like hours but was truly mere seconds passed before the beacon began its long and hopeful drone sparking the first beat of hope in Draven’s chest.
“There!” Ook pointed, his voice deep with emotion.
It was the same spiraling chaos that Draven felt coursing through his own veins; need, worry, hunger and fear. What if she was dead? What if Kantella had taken her into the city? Would they ever find her?
Gazing out the surveillance deck, Draven spotted the smoke billowing amidst the thick smattering of trees that lined the outer edges of the city. Large elm, ash and spruce trees with full boughs hid the downed ship. Draven could feel his canines drawing his own blood within his mouth, his teeth were clenched so forcefully. The rage within him multiplied.
“He’d best pray that she lives,” he whispered.
They’d barely waited for the landing gear to settle before they rushed from the ship. Ook’s power trembled against his skin and Draven knew that the Darengy’s need and anger were a match to his own. But for Draven, this was personal. Kantella was his kin. His mirror image. The reason behind more bloodshed and carnage in more galaxies than Draven even cared to think about. His selfishness had wrought this. His desire for power.
Three steps from the ship’s door, and laser fire exploded; bursts of fire-orange glow filled the air all around them. Each reached for their weapons. A bright band ripped through air, skimmed Draven’s shoulder and struck Ook in the chest. The hot glow sizzled cloth, burned flesh, knocked him off his feet. With a loud groan, he clutched his chest, but he didn’t get up.
With a growl Draven bent to Ook’s side, a curse on his lips. “Be still, brother,” he whispered. “I’ll not leave you to this fate.” Pulling a blade from a sheath at his side, he ran it along his wrist, the blade slicing a line deep enough to well with blood and brought it to Ook’s lips. “Drink,” he told him. “Drink and mend.”
From every direction more laser bursts erupted like a shower of fire raining down around them. Draven could only cover Ook with his body and wait for his blood to heal him. With his lips pressed warmly to his flesh, each pull radiated through him. Stirred the fire. When Ook’s eyes flashed open, the flaming light within them swirled with a darkness of need to match his own.
The trion was alive within them. It was alive and hungered for completion.
“You have saved me from shadows of death,” Ook stated, his eyes wide with wonder while his mind raced to escape the darkness that he’d just been saved from.
“Would you have not done the same?”
Ook looked into Draven’s dark green eyes. “For all the days I shall draw breath...you will always walk beside me.”
Draven smiled. “Then let us find our mate and complete our circle.”
Laser fire still rained down around them, and without knowing where Kantella hid, without being able to see him, killing him would be difficult, and finding Leah all the more so. “We must draw him out,” Ook advised, a dark fire glowing in his eyes. Draven nodded. He knew of the Darengy powers. Knew of Kantella’s ability to appear and disappear at will. He prayed it would be enough.
With a thought, Ook faded before Draven’s eyes, vapor and mist spilling across the ground, spreading like tendrils of death-filled fog. Draven wrapped himself in that mist and opened his senses, seeking the darkness that was his brother’s blood. Like one person, they spread through the forested area, searching for any sign of Kantella’s essence.
Laser fire drew close and Draven shifted to match the shadows, his form fading. Like the night itself, he skulked through the mist, open to every nuance and shift of wind. Any change in depth or breadth of shadows.
Then he felt it, the blade at his throat. “Did you think it would be easy a second time, brother?” Kantella whispered. “Did you think I’d not repay you in kind for the mark I bear?”
“The wounds you bear are your own, Kantella,” Draven advised. “Your guilt, your disloyalties; even your greed to possess things that are not your own.”
“Iona was mine, Draven,” he growled. “Mine, and you took her from me.”
“You speak of
youthful fancies, Kantella. Iona was a woman who wanted what she chose. You killed her out of spite and hatred. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“She was mine!” he roared, pressing the blade deeper into Draven’s flesh.
“And yet you destroyed what you thought to possess.”
Kantella growled low and deep. The taint of his madness rising. “Do not push me too far, brother, for I hold the one thing you long to cherish. The one thing you hold above all others,” he gloated. “I shall take that which you wish to possess, but never shall. I shall claim her, and you will then know the depth of my suffering.”
Mist swirled at their feet, the blade drew deeper and Draven watched his long life flash before him. His brother, clearly having succumbed to mindless chaos and mad thoughts, twisting truths and realities, for he had never possessed Iona. Never had her love or devotion to claim as his own. And that is why he had killed her. He had wanted her so much, and she had shunned him for his brother...a brother who, in fact, never loved her in return.
It was this useless sense of loss of life and love that filled him now as his thoughts turned to Leah and Ook. They were his heart. His light in so much darkness. Oh, the waste of so much time, he thought desperately. He prayed that he’d have more of it to spend with them.
The blade bit deeper, his blood trickling warm and heavy over the steel’s cold edge while his mind filled with their images. A sharp burst of red fire blazed through his peripheral vision, searing his shoulder. Kantella’s grunt of pain lodged in his ear, the blade relenting, and Draven took advantage of the moment’s hesitation. He wrenched Kantella’s wrist, twisting the blade backwards, spun around and drove the blade into Kantella’s right shoulder.
Before he could relish his victory, Kantella vanished.
* * * * * *
Leah clutched the weapon in her shaking hands, visions of Kantella killing Draven rushing through her mind. She couldn’t recall if she’d actually pulled the lever to release the weapon’s power, or had only wished that she had; everything had happened so quickly.