“Don’t be rude,” Misha said. “Surely the lovely Tech would like to join us for dinner and drinks.”
“No, she’s monogamous.”
Misha recoiled as if Bethany was a leper. “There’s a lot of that going around. I hope it’s not catching.” They laughed down the street, leaving Bethany with her fists clenched. So much for that idea. She continued down to where the train’s occupants had set up their camp.
“What’s up, buttercup?” Karen said, folding leather blankets.
Bethany explained the plan to Karen who just shook her head.
“I need to crash in the wagon for about an hour.”
Karen gestured with her chin. “Go ahead. It sounds a little dangerous to me, but maybe with just the three of you, no one will notice you poking around.”
Climbing into the wagon, Bethany secured the doors and rearranged the inventory so she had a comfortable place to rest. She was shaking with eagerness to get back into the light and power, but as she lay down to center herself, Lucas came crashing in.
“What?” she said, hand on her heart.
“No way.”
“It’s the only way.”
“I don’t want you to go into the tugboat.” He sat down beside her and held her hand. “You’re not strong enough.”
“I am,” she said. “I’m much better. All I did when we were in Colorado was recuperate. I’m bored. I’m strong. I want to kick some ass.”
Lucas’s lips twitched. “If you saw yourself after we arrived in Colorado. Half-dead, crying to go back into the Tech waves or whatever they are. You were like an addict. I’m worried if you go back, you won’t come back to me.”
Bethany sat up. “I’ll come back to you. If you want me to.”
He hugged her so tightly her ribs protested. “You are so fragile, so delicate.”
“Just because I can’t shift into a tiger doesn’t mean I’m not tough.” Her voice was muffled against his shirt.
“I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want you to go where I can’t follow.” He pulled away so he could look into her eyes, and she saw the truth. Of course he didn’t cheat. Of course he had been true to her.
“Then give me a reason to stay,” she said, licking her lips. “Send me off with the feel of your body inside mine.”
His grin was savage. “I can’t be sweet and gentle. Not after so long. We don’t have time to ease into this.”
Bethany tore into his shirt, buttons flying. “I don’t need gentle. I’ve been aching for you for days.”
His mouth was on hers before she finished speaking. Fabric rent as her shirt was also torn off. Their hands fumbled on the buttons of their pants, and they scrambled to get out of them without stopping the passionate kiss. He tasted like freedom and home. Bethany reveled in his touch. How could she think being in the waves topped this?
She closed her hands around his cock while he shredded her panties into scraps. Ripping her bra in two, Lucas groaned. Teeth clacking together, they connected skin on skin. Hands greedy, they stroked each other.
Bethany wanted him to come in her hand and might have been successful if he hadn’t used his superior strength to pull her arms over her head, as he forced himself down on top of her.
“Lucas,” she cried as he bit the juncture of her neck and shoulder.
“Mine,” he said, ravaging the sweet spot there.
His cock lay heavy against her stomach. “I wish I had two cocks so I could fill both your holes at once.”
“Mmmm,” she agreed.
Plastered above her, he kissed down her chest, taking care to lavish attention on her hardened nipples. At the juncture of her thighs, he knelt and stroked himself. Bethany admired the hard planes of muscles and his thick cock. Mine.
“Fuck me,” she murmured.
“Touch yourself,” he ordered.
She drifted her fingers down and fluttered them over her wetness.
“When this is all over, I’m going to jerk off while you masturbate and then come all over that pretty stomach of yours. Then I’m going stick my cock down your throat while I go down on you.”
Bethany grunted, her fingers moving faster.
“You like that part?” he asked, dipping a wicked finger inside her.
She nodded, words leaving her at the intense look in his eyes.
“We can skip to that part then.”
He moved quickly to her head, guiding it over his cock. Bethany latched on, sucking deep. Lucas’s body covered hers, pushing it deeper down her throat. Rolling so she was on top, he spread her legs wide.
The first flick of his tongue made her squirm. His fingers thrusting inside her had her screeching around his cock. Yes. Oh yes, this was what she missed. So much better than her dreams and even the Tech wave. Her nipples were crushed flat against the hard planes of his stomach. Cupping his balls, she swirled her tongue all over his shaft.
Scurrying down to take more of that flickering tongue and pumping fingers, Bethany sucked him deeper.
“So wet, so juicy. I think my finger is just right now.” He had her clit now and tickled one wet finger thick with her arousal around her anus.
Bethany remembered being ravaged by his cock, and it made her suck him wilder.
Groaning, Lucas dipped one finger in her anus and two in her cunt. “This will have to do, won’t it? Until I can get something else to fuck you with.”
He came down her throat when her cries started to sound more animal than human.
“Bethany,” he cried, ramming his fingers in faster.
“Yes, oh gods, yes,” she said resting her cheek against his thigh.
Even as her orgasm shook through her, he rolled them again. Cool air registered as he got off her. She was on her back again, but he was inside her before she could protest. Wrapping her legs around him, he thundered into her. Fisting her hair, Lucas forced her to look at him.
“You will come back to me.”
“Yes,” she gritted out, pleasure shaking through every nerve ending.
“You will not take risks.”
“I won’t,” she said, meeting his thrusts.
“You are my mate.”
“Yes,” she screamed as pleasure built.
“You are mine,” he snarled and growled as he came again.
Bethany was nearly blind with the power slamming into her. Lucas did not slow down. Did not stop a minute until his hard, driving rhythm cast her into shuddering release. She bit his neck in possession as she came. He chuckled and gave her a few more thrusts.
Panting, they kissed again, bodies entwined. “I love you,” he said.
She would walk through death to come back to him.
Chapter Seventeen
Jesse
“WE’RE GOING TO TAKE groups of ten out at a time,” Clark said once everyone had settled into their lodgings at town.
Jesse looked around, but she didn’t see Bethany or Lucas anywhere. It was a good thing they weren’t in the first group. She watched as the collection of Shifters and hunters prepared the boat for sailing.
“We’ll be back in four days’ time. Two days out, two days back. Shift change. Those of you who remain behind will be responsible for guarding the salvage and keeping the base camp stocked. I expect you’ll use any means necessary to do that.”
Clark scanned the crowd and locked his gaze on her before moving on.
Reaching for Lem’s hand, she tried to ignore the tight thrill of desire at the need in his eyes. She didn’t want to want such a bad man, but gods he made her panties wet.
“Well supper’s not going to cook itself,” Lem said. “Let’s go.”
Jesse spared a longing glance over her shoulder for the boat and the adventure she was missing out on—not to mention the loot. All in favor of chopping onions and roasting root vegetables in the fire.
“What do you think they’ll find out there?” she asked Lem as he fired up the kiln to prepare for the dough he had rising.
“Nothing too eart
h-shattering. All the electronics are salted down with sea water, and any paper has to be waterlogged. I’m sure it won’t be a wasted trip, but I don’t think we’re going to find anything that will bring back technology. Not with just one Tech anyway.”
“Where is Bethany anyway?”
“She’s probably with Lucas makin’ up for lost time.”
Jesse finished the onions and started peeling potatoes. Lem spread flour out on a board and started to abuse the large dough balls by slamming and punching them down. Jesse couldn’t resist a little flinch.
“Something wrong?” she asked. He was hitting the dough with more force than was needed.
“I just think Maya is going to be upset by what we bring back.”
“So maybe we don’t go back,” Jesse said.
Lem raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean? I promised to get Bethany here and back, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“What if she doesn’t want to go back?”
“Of course she does.” Lem dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand.
“What if I don’t?” Jesse put down the knife. She might be tempted to use it on him if he gave the wrong answer.
Lem’s mouth gaped open. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“I like it here.”
“We just got here.”
“I mean I like it away from the East. The Colorado camp was much more modern.”
Shaking his head, Lem went back to his dough. “They don’t have the trading power of the Eastern tribes.”
“Not yet. But if Lewis and Clark can get that railway going, and the nomads back off...”
“The nomads won’t ever back off. You saw what they did. How they were. They’re killers. Animals.” Lem shook his head. “It ain’t safe out here. We belong back East.”
“Do we?” Jesse said, picking up the knife again and carving through the potatoes in record time.
“Sure.”
Lisa staggered into the kitchen. “You guys come quick.” She was drenched and shaking, holding a leather blanket to cover her nakedness. “You have to help. They’ve got Lucas.”
“Who’s got Lucas?” Jesse said, scrambling to keep Lisa upright.
“We went to take a look at the tugboat. The one that’s going to Alcatraz. But they dropped nets and caught us. I jumped overboard. He’s still on there. They’re going to bring him back to the prison.”
“Was Bethany with you?”
“Not really. I mean her body wasn’t. That’s still in Karen’s wagon. She did that Tech thing, and I don’t know where she is now. She said she was going to the island. I can’t wake her up.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Jesse said. She read the journal that Lisa had bartered for. The prison was now a research facility, one that experimented on Shifters. It was no wonder why Lisa was panicked. “We’ll rescue him. They ain’t going to get to that island.”
“We need a boat,” Lem said. “Maybe we can flag down Lewis and Clark.”
Jesse ran outside, dodging people to make it down to the dock. The last lines were being hauled up. Waving her hands frantically, she tried to get their attention. No good. They were either ignoring her, or they didn’t see her.
“Hey,” she yelled. “Wait!”
The boat drifted from the dock.
Jesse’s hands went to the whistle she wore around her neck. Shaking, she blew into it tentatively. Then when nothing happened, she blew into it with all her might.
“What are you doing?” Lem said, whirling her around by the shoulder.
“We need that boat,” she cried.
“At what cost?”
“Don’t talk to me about cost,” Jesse said. “When we’re back at your tribe and that bitch chief of yours asks you to go down on her what are you going to say?”
“I can’t say no to the chief,” Lem stuttered.
“We’re a couple,” Jesse screamed.
“She knows that. She wouldn’t ask.” Lem trailed off, not sounding so sure of himself.
“Then there’s making love, and then there’s bartering sex. Can you distinguish between the two?”
“I don’t want to,” he said.
“Then we stay here.” Jesse pointed to the ground. “Or if we go, I’m paying for that boat any way Clark wants.”
Lem clenched his fists. “If you fuck him, we’re through.”
“Just him?” Jesse said, sweetly. “How about if I fuck the whole damn dock?”
“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. I’m going to check on Bethany.”
Jesse tried to get her breathing under control while she watched the ship sail away. So much for if you ever need me, whistle. She snapped the chain holding the whistle around her neck and threw the useless thing in the ocean as hard as she could.
Glaring at the boat gliding away, Jesse saw another boat on the horizon. It was moving at a fast pace, jerky and weaving on the water, as if it were powered by some unknown force. The motor revved, coughed up billowing smoke. The boat plowed straight into floating debris. Jesse saw men jump overboard, heard their screams. Lights flared on the boat, and the radio squawked static.
Lisa darted naked by her and dived into the water. A shark fin pierced the waters and took off toward the men in an angry, purposeful line. And then the boat was coming right toward the dock. Scrambling up the rocks to get to higher ground, Jesse heard the whistle blow a warning before the boat crashed the dock into splinters.
“Lem,” she screamed, and he was there, lifting her up to safety. They held each other as the boat powered down and went still.
Chapter Eighteen
Bethany
THE PRISON LOOMED OVER the landscape like a morbid hotel. Rust peeled off the metal bars on the outside, but birds flew in and out of the top areas. A background hiss and buzz of generators played along Bethany’s spine as she got closer. In the radio waves above the island, Bethany stared in fascination at the automans. They were Tech-run, but like Vera suggested, the Tech’s body was long gone. Vera and she were deciding if they should try to communicate with them when a radio message from the ship piped into the prison.
“We caught a Shifter trying to spy on us. We’ve got him under control. Another one got away. We’re going to send a team to Port Reno to find her.”
“Bethany,” Vera warned, but Bethany shot to the boat.
The engine was old and clunky. She revved it like her motorcycle, which was a bad idea because it made the boat spin in a circle before she got it straightened out. There was no way they were bringing Lucas back to that island. Bethany finally got the boat headed in the right direction, narrowly missing Lewis and Clark’s boat. Didn’t avoid all the junk floating in the water, but it was all right. This was a rescue mission, by golly. Bethany was starting to feel in control of the situation when she heard Vera’s call for help.
The tugboat plowed into the dock. Whoops. Jumping out of the engines, she flew back to the island. Vera was in command of one of the automans, but the other four were ganging up on her.
“Leave her alone,” Bethany said, reaching down and pulling the Tech out of one of them. His ghostly essence sparked and chains of energy dropped off of him.
"Thank you," he said.
The automan dropped to the ground, and the ghost—if that was what he was, sped off into the atmosphere, out to where the satellites still prowled in orbit Vera blasted another one with her arm cannons, while Bethany tore another Tech from another automan.
“Fly, be free,” Bethany said, as the essence of the Tech—female this time, bowed to her before shooting into the clouds. Maybe that was where Techs went instead of heaven.
The remaining automan tried to run, but Bethany was much faster and set the driver free as well before settling into the driver’s seat. It was much smoother than the tugboat, more powerful than her motorcycle, but it handled like the truck. Inside the automan, she walked around the island, using its cannons to demolish the rusted metal gates.
Men poure
d out of the doors, pointing boxes with antennas at her. Accessing the computer on her automan, she found they were called control boxes and used a radio frequency to control her movements.
She let them try, and then she reached over and picked them up in her large metal pincers.
“It’s a Tech!” they shouted.
Bethany tossed a few into the ocean while Vera stomped them like ants. The men tried to get in and close the door, but Bethany threw herself in the way. After jumping out of the downed automan, she dove into the building’s controls, turning the generator on high. She held out her hand and forced the door’s electronic lock to open and stay open. She had the generator as a security blanket, but the channeling still hurt.
A whirl of energy pulsed through her, filling her with godlike power. She turned on every light in the prison, pouring music from Les Misérables through the loudspeakers and PA systems.
“Do you hear the people sing, motherfuckers?”
“Bethany,” Vera said.
But Vera’s voice was so small, and Bethany was so big. Bethany turned off the computers and sent power to overload the system, scrambling the information.
“Never again,” she shouted.
“Bethany.”
The scientists panicked and ran for the elevators, but Bethany shut them down. She opened the cell doors one by one and saw mutilated Shifters come out. She tried to access the cameras to find her brother.
“Bethany.”
“Daniel.” She punched through the audio. “It’s Bethany. I’m here. Lucas’s tribe. We’re here to rescue you.”
“Bethany.”
“What is it?”
“You’re dying.”
“No, I’m not.” Bethany laughed. “I’ve never felt better.” And she meant it. She literally never felt better.
“Go back to your body or join me forever.”
“I can’t go back. I can’t leave them.”
Carnage filled the hallways as the Shifters mauled the scientists that had tortured them.
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