by Angela White
“Is that possible?” she questioned tiredly, stifling a yawn.
“Very,” he replied, standing up. He also followed his normal routine, stripping down to his boxers. They usually did this part separately or she would keep her eyes shut as he disrobed and slid into the bed. Today, she watched every move he made. Her cheeks stayed a bright red, but she didn’t look away, even when he adjusted for growing flesh.
“I always wondered what your knees looked like,” she said to break the tension.
Kyle chortled, taking a t-shirt from his kit. He wasn’t ready to be in that bed with her.
The t-shirt was a large one he found comfortable and it covered him enough to let Kyle relax under her wide gaze. At some point, they would be naked with each other and it wouldn’t matter, but right now, her bare feet and ankles were making his pulse race.
Kyle flipped the small heater up and sat down on the bed. “Smoking bother you?”
Jennifer shook her head. “I like the smell.”
He usually left the tent, but Peggy was keeping Autumn and he needed the nerve-calmer before they went any further than being half-naked around each other.
“I’m sorry that I’m rushing you.”
“It’s okay,” Kyle answered, puffing to get the cheroot lit. “I understand, as much as I can.”
There was a peaceful silence where they stole glances at each other and wondered what came next.
Jennifer didn’t want to concede on her demands, but still said, “If I hadn’t flipped over the baby, how would you have handled it?”
Kyle was surprised by the question and by how she’d worded it. He tried to answer more carefully.
“I would love you, Jen.”
“Meaning…my pleasure?”
Kyle’s mouth dried up. “It matters to me more than I can say. In fact…” he hesitated, not positive that she was ready to hear it.
“What?” she insisted.
“I don’t think I want this any other way.”
Jennifer stared at him in shock. “What?”
“I need it together, for us. I’ve used women and not cared. I’ve also loved women with my body and it was nice. I didn’t care one way or the other, but now…” He hesitated again, uneasy.
“Please?” Jennifer begged. She could have read it, but he needed to say it and sometimes, hearing it meant more.
“I dream about pleasing you, baby,” he groaned roughly. “Not taking you or claiming you, but making you cry my name in the best pleasure you’ve ever felt. I need you to love me, too, Jenny, and sex isn’t that big a deal. Making you feel good, making you happy that you picked me–that is a big deal.”
“You know that’s not what I want,” she reminded him uneasily.
Kyle couldn’t let it pass this time. “No, baby. You were hurt. It was used against you like a weapon. You only know one side of it, so how can you make that choice?”
“Because I’m terrified,” she admitted. “If you can make me feel that way, I’ll be your slave–like I was before.”
“Other way around, I think,” Kyle stated, leaning against the tent wall. “You’re so brave. You’re so young. And you’ve been trained to accept a man’s touch so you don’t get hurt, but it’s not supposed to be that way. One day, you’ll trust me enough to let me show you.”
Jennifer asked, “And until then?”
“We’ll do whatever you want,” he replied immediately. “I won’t ever push you on sex, but when you push me on it, this will come up.”
“Why does it really matter to you?” she whispered. “Tell the truth.”
“Because you’re mine,” he stated simply. “And I can’t be yours until his ghost is gone.”
“Can you do that?” she demanded suddenly. ‘Can you make him leave me alone?”
Kyle hated the tears spilling down her pale cheeks, but knew they were necessary. “In time, yes, baby, I can. But not your way. Your way, you end up hating me as much as him, because I’m never going to be satisfied with your surrender, Jenny. I need you, all of you, and if I can’t have that, I won’t ever be happy.”
“And neither will I,” she realized. “It would kill me to think I’ve made you unhappy after all you’ve done for me.”
“I feel the same way.”
Jennifer wiped at her tears, loathing the Mexican man for the mental suffering that she suspected would never give her any peace.
Instinctively certain of what she needed right now, Kyle slowly slid over and tugged on her arm. “Come here.”
Jennifer gratefully curled up on his lap and bawled like an infant.
Angela had paused in the shadows behind the tent, listening and approving. She continued toward the main gate, confident that Kyle was making real progress with Jennifer. The teenager was in a rough period of growing up, where everything was confusing about men and sex, and her abuses would have to be addressed each time the side effects popped up.
Angela slid deeper into the predawn darkness as Samantha reentered camp, obviously much improved. The spring in her step said Conner had been able to push the disease back, and Angela was glad.
Hidden from view of everyone except her personal shadow (Wade, from Neil’s team) Angela leaned against the mountain and lit a stale smoke. They were almost out of the nasty things and Angela didn’t plan to go searching for more. Adrian had been right when he said they didn’t need to worry about drug use because it would eventually run out. He’d been more concerned about alcohol, which was easily reproduced.
As Samantha entered, Kendle exited, now off duty. Angela felt the man meeting Kendle before he came from the trees that lined his small site. He wore no shirt and the exotic tattoos over his thick arms and strong body cried out to be caressed.
Adrian ignored Kendle as she stopped in front of him. The island woman didn’t exist for him, Angela did. He couldn’t see her, but he knew she was near. He scanned, hoping she was outside the bubble, but he couldn’t find her.
Kendle hadn’t gotten over the last snub from a man, and her rage exploded. She swung with all her strength and punched Adrian.
Not expecting it, he fell on his ass and sprawled in surprise at her feet.
Kendle waited for his reaction, able to hear Angela’s laughter in her mind.
Adrian also felt Angela’s amusement, but it was a bitter sensation that he had to gleam from Kendle’s wary mind.
Adrian glanced up, rubbing his jaw. “Now you’re acting like her.”
Both females winced.
Adrian picked himself up and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Kendle went quickly, surprised at herself. She’d initiated rough sex. Was she nuts?
No, just angry and horny, she realized, stripping her Eagle jacket as she entered his chilly tent. Safe Haven brings that out in me.
Adrian stayed still, staring at the gate shadows where he would have picked to lurk. He hadn’t seen her in weeks, hadn’t heard her voice–even in his mind. It was torture.
“I’m doing everything you expect and more,” he murmured, with no hope that she would hear it. “Please don’t forget about me.”
The sentries on the gate had been smirking, but as Adrian continued to stare in longing, their smiles became scowls.
Not wanting word to get to Marc, Adrian slowly turned away. Kendle was expecting a fight, but he didn’t have it in him–not for her. There was one woman on the planet that he would battle over now and she was currently crying. He could feel the sadness and it was clear enough to make him realize the bubble couldn’t stop their emotions from reaching out.
Angela waited until she had herself under control and then stayed longer, smoking and studying the road that led to her mostly sleeping camp. While she waited, Seth and Becky left in a black van.
A bit later, gathering crews began to roll in and out to start another day.
A while after that, as dawn had begun to illuminate a stunning mountain view, the sound of multiple engines echoed an
d Angela headed for the gate. This was what she’d come for. Anger filled her–rage that had little to do with traitors and their mistresses–and she strode to the guards determinedly. “New orders, gentlemen. Pay attention.”
4
“Doctor Reynolds to the main gate.”
Angela waited as her men directed the newest group of refugees into Zone A. They were the Cholera people–the ones who had survived–and she wasn’t concerned over them. She did need to be positive they weren’t carrying anything before she let them in, but the group of twelve seemed very normal for these times. The other man who had come in last night, Jayson, was also in Zone A. His symptoms were from the ash exposure and he had a calm, kind, pathetic air. He had told the sentries that he lost his family recently to strangers and didn’t think he would make it far if Safe Haven wouldn’t let him join. After their recent suicide, the Eagles were sympathetic and the gate guards had marked him as a Yellowstone refugee.
Another lesson to learn, Angela mourned silently as the doctor rushed toward the gate with his medical bag.
“We’re checking them out,” Ray said from his post above them. “Give us a few more minutes to set up a perimeter and then you can go on out, since they’re asking for you.”
The doctor pushed his chest out. “Young man, there is enough security here to make me think I’m in a prison. Secure your perimeter while I work.”
The doctor shoved by Simon, who was operating the latch today, and opened the gate himself.
The Eagle team guiding the refugees into their gated locale were surprised when the doctor hurried by them to greet the group of people, but they didn’t stop him. Their orders were to cage the people and get back inside so that Angela could scan them as they settled in. She and Jennifer liked to evaluate people unobserved, providing a more valuable profile.
The team finished putting the people into Zone A, locked that gate, and then hurried to the safety of home.
“Damn!” Simon swore. “We had a jam and had to send for a new weapon. Not ready to go out there yet.”
“He’s fine,” Ray stated. “And he’s locked in. We’ll cover the perimeter and then escort him in. Just don’t forget to report the violation.”
Angela nodded to Simon’s raised brow and the men went on with their usual procedures for new arrivals needing medical care.
“Hey!”
Angela felt that now unwelcome shield of battle fall over the entire area as the guards spotted their huge mistake.
“I’ve got your doctor!”
The man in the center of Zone A, using the innocent group as a shield, was one of the Zone C survivors who had fled. He now had the whimpering doctor in a tight grip under one arm, and a handgun waving from the other.
“You gotta let me in there now!”
“There’s the killer the boss sensed,” Bobby muttered angrily from the top ledge. “We have to stop letting these people live!”
The man had obviously come in with the new refugees, blending with a dirty robe that had fallen to the ground in his struggle with the doctor.
“Agreed,” Angela said, hating the fear hitting her in waves from Zone A. This wouldn’t last long, but none of the new people would ever forget it.
“I’ll count to ten and these gates better all open!” the lunatic shouted, staying behind cowering women and men. The group was armed, but feared that if they accidentally shot the doctor instead of the madman, they would be sent on their way or even killed by the Eagles.
“One!”
“Who wants to play hostage?” Angela asked coolly.
“That’s me,” Kenn quickly spoke up.
“Get to it,” she replied, proud of how far Kenn had come.
“Two!” the man screamed.
Kenn left the safety of their gate, unarmed, and went to the Zone A gate. After unlocking it, he opened it and waited for the next order.
“All right!” the man wrenched the doctor around to be his shield and dragged him toward the zone gate. “You’ll like me in charge, I promise.”
“Please, let me go!” the doctor begged, no longer struggling.
“Shut up!” the man shouted, slamming his gun into the side of the doctor’s face.
Mistake, Kenn thought, spotting the next problem coming, but there was little he could do about it.
While the madman was distracted, another man came up behind the killer and stabbed his knife deep into the lunatic’s neck.
The doctor dropped to the ground as the arm around his throat let go and the body covered him as it fell.
Jayson dropped the knife, looking horrified as he staggered back. “I didn’t… I had to help…”
Kenn studied Angela instead of the trees, where four new shadows had appeared.
“Well, that’s unfortunate.” The rest of the exiled Zone C men came from the shadows with their guns aimed at Kenn and Jayson. “For you, of course, not us. Nick was the nicest one of our bunch.”
Kenn sank to his knees and put his hands on top of his head. He knew the routine.
The four invaders surrounded the Marine.
“Open those gates and get that bitch out here,” the leader, Degussa, ordered. “Let her tell me no again!”
“If we see those ants, we’ll shoot him!” another of the men screamed, scanning fearfully.
The doctor scrambled to the gate and banged furiously. “Let me in!”
Angela shook her head at the nervous sentries. “Let this play out.”
“Where was he on the count?” Degussa called. “Ah, yes. Three! Four! Five!”
Jayson slowly edged toward the semi-safety of Zone A, but he was grabbed by one of the scruffy men and shoved down next to Kenn.
“Seven!”
“What’s all the yelling about?”
Every head spun to discover Adrian standing in the tree line with a Saiga shotgun. His expression was furiously cold.
Degussa recognized the threat. “Kill him!”
Adrian opened fire before they could and hit all four of the standing men without touching Kenn or Jayson. Tactical buckshot did slam into the ground near the other gates though, and the people there scurried away in terror.
In the silence that followed, there was a new sound–one of scornful clapping.
“Seeing the great Adrian Mitchel in action is so boring now.”
Adrian turned to witness Vlad and half a dozen enslaved men on horses coming from the same trees where Degussa’s group had been hiding.
“You used to have such flair.” Vlad’s personal shield was glowing hotly as he surveyed the gate. “I’m taking what’s been mine since he slept with my wife. Stand down.”
Vlad dismounted and marched toward Adrian with a dart gun.
Angela was aware of the looks being cast her way, of the immediate expectation that she would rescue him. It was flooding over her in waves from both sides of the fence.
Kenn found Angela through the grates. “Boss?”
“You two! Get up and go inside,” Vlad ordered, signaling his men to handle it as he approached Adrian.
Adrian lowered the Saiga, sensing a shifting moment in time. Angela’s choice here would seal their fate. If she let Vlad have him, he would be killed as payment for Jack and it would probably happen right now.
“The great Mitchel,” Vlad repeated. “You won’t walk away this time.”
“Boss?” Kenn questioned again, letting Jayson slowly tug him toward the main gate.
Angela winced, holding in rage and desolation. She was listening for more support, but other than the Eagles, there wasn’t any.
Angela slowly rotated to view her camp, and the dozens of faces now trying to get a look through the gate at the action. Can we survive without him? she asked the witch.
You can, the witch answered tensely. These people won’t.
And if I save him now?
You can’t.
I knew. I just had to hear it, Angela answered. She slowly shook her head at the questioning Eagles.
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br /> Kenn saw the gesture and dug his heels in. “Don’t do this.”
Vlad ignored him, holding a free hand out for Adrian’s weapon.
Angela winced again, but said nothing.
Kenn jerked out of Jayson’s light grip and glared at the men on the gate. “We don’t allow this. We don’t allow crime on our doorstep. We are Eagles, god damn it!”
His shout took guards by surprise and sent guilt through them.
“We’re supposed to stand for the weak, and to protect those who need help. Where does it say those people have to be worthy first?” Kenn demanded angrily. “We either live it, all of it, or we turn into pieces of shit, like these guys.”
“Hey,” Vlad protested. “You can’t–”
“Oh, shut up!” Kenn snapped. “In a minute, she’ll zap your ass like you deserve and I’ll go have a beer. So, just. Shut. Up!”
Vlad gaped in complete shock.
Adrian grinned proudly. “That’s my XO.”
The Eagles were giving Angela hard and uneasy looks now, and she said, “He’s a traitor. We know he isn’t worthy. Our men are free and it isn’t inside our gates. Someone tell me why I should help him.” Please! she begged silently. Someone please come through for him here.
“Because if we change the ideals that Safe Haven was founded on, we won’t have a Safe Haven anymore,” Zack stated in the silence. He’d come at the clicked code over the radio, as had other Eagles and members. “Kenn is right. The person doesn’t have to be worthy. We have laws of conduct to follow and if we don’t, this all falls apart.”
Zack looked at Angela. “I say we save him, but don’t forgive him or let him in. And we’re only doing it because it’s happening right here in front of us.”
Angela appeared to consider it. “Is that what you all think?”
More support came than she had expected and Angela gestured in relief. “Majority rules. Eagles, go clear our front porch.”
Vlad jerked Adrian’s weapon free, but it was too late. Kenn heard Angela’s choice and lunged. He hit Vlad as the shield came up and both men flew to the ground from the impact.
Vlad scrambled to his feet as the gate opened and two dozen men rushed out, firing repeatedly.