The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4)

by Lionsdrake, Ruby

  “Lieutenant Thomlin,” came Thatcher’s voice from the front of the shuttle.

  Sedge lifted his head, only then realizing how close his lips had been to Kalish’s. Thatcher had turned in his seat to look back at them, and any smooching would have been visible over the seat backs.

  “Yes, sir?” Sedge said, trying not to sound guilty. Even Thatcher could not begrudge a wounded man a kiss from a woman, could he?

  But Thatcher did not seem to have noticed. He tapped a few buttons on the control panel, then unfastened his safety harness and walked down the aisle toward them. He carried an oval metal disk in his hand. It had runes etched on one side and an image on the other. Or was that the map he had mentioned earlier? When Sedge had been in too much pain for his curiosity to be aroused?

  “If my memory is correct, you studied alien philology in school, did you not, Thomlin?”

  “Just for a semester, sir.” Sedge did not know if that semester would be useful out in the field, but he held his hand out, certain Kalish would want to examine the artifact, even if he couldn’t make anything of it.

  “See if anything can be ascertained from this.” Thatcher handed it to him. “I have set course for the next dot on your map, but if you discover anything useful on the artifact, tell me, and I can alter it.”

  “Yes, sir.” Sedge accepted the object.

  Thatcher had compared it to a lid earlier, hadn’t he? The oval disk did remind Sedge of one, thanks to the way the edges curled down. He smirked, imagining those aliens getting a big tin of cookies delivered to their underground outpost long ago. Kalish leaned her head against his shoulder again, gazing at the artifact too.

  Having her so close distracted Sedge, but he would not consider asking her to leave. He was still enjoying her new warmth toward him. If his hand had not been busy holding the disk, he might have rested it on her thigh. Maybe he could convince her to crawl into his lap, so they could resume what they had started on her bridge. Wishful thinking. Logically, he knew that would need to wait until he had both hands working again—and three other men were not in the area with them—but that did not keep his trousers from tightening across his groin. He glowered down at the area with a firm thought of, Not now.

  Thatcher wanted the runes translated. Nothing else was going to happen back here. Besides, Sedge caught his reflection in the lid’s shiny surface and noted the stubble that needed shaving, the hair that needed washing and combing, and decided he looked tired. Hardly a sexy find for Kalish. He was lucky she was still sitting beside him. He shifted the lid so that it covered his lap and resolved to focus on the work.

  “That’s the symbol for power, isn’t it?” Kalish tapped a small engraving in a cluster of similarly sized symbols. Evidence of multiple alien languages had been found, but the predominate one, the one that had been used on this lid, used symbols rather than an alphabet.

  “Yes, and given the context—” Sedge touched the circle of runes around it, “—I believe it’s talking about power sources or perhaps batteries.”

  He tried to move his right arm to dig his tablet out of his pocket, but it still felt like a lead weight, his fingers numb. Shifting made the repair kit poke into his shoulder blade, too, and he grunted at the discomfort. “Or maybe I’ll get that out later,” he muttered.

  “What? Your tablet?”

  “Yes.” Sedge debated whether he could reach across with his other hand without disturbing Kalish. It might not help his brain work better, but he was enjoying having her close.

  “I’ll get it.” She winked and reached across him.

  He shifted the lid, but not so much that other things would be revealed. As it was, having her leaning across him and rooting around in his pocket made him insanely aware of her. She might not use a scented shampoo, but her head and neck were close enough that he could smell the scent of her, of woman, warm and sweet and touching his thigh. He gulped, not sure whether he felt relieved or tormented when she had the tablet in hand and settled down next to him again.

  She flipped it open. “You’ll have to enter your own password. I’m sure it’s something super complicated and fitting for a security officer. Either that or it’s your dog’s name.”

  Sedge remembered to smile, though he was distracted, wishing he could toss the plate aside and invite her into his lap. “It’s X773jdnckd*(47a_ M74drF,” he said, “but, uh, I can type it in.” He wriggled his good hand.

  “Uh huh. And just to be clear, that’s not your dog’s name, right?”

  “Never had a dog. Allergies.”

  “Ah.” She pulled out her own tablet and popped up a translation program. “Shall we race to see who can decipher it first?”

  “It depends,” Sedge said. “Are you going to do your work from the other end of the shuttle or from right there?”

  Kalish leaned away from him, the cold air that replaced her warmth lamentable. “I’m sorry. Am I bothering you?” Her forehead wrinkled, disappointment in her eyes, though they seemed understanding as well.

  “No.” Sedge laid his hand on her thigh, as he had wanted to do earlier. He lowered his voice to a whisper, conscious of Tick and Thatcher in the pilots’ seats up front. Striker’s snores should drown out his words, but one never knew when he might roll over and fall silent. “I just find you... distracting. I’m not sure my brain could decipher anything right now.”

  Even though she wore utilitarian trousers, and there wasn’t anything sexual about them, the warmth of her skin came through the material and teased his mind with the promise of possibilities. Especially when she did not object to his touch. She looked down at his hand, smiled, and leaned closer to him, her chest pressing against his shoulder. She rested her fingers lightly on his bare abdomen, and the muscles twitched beneath her touch.

  “Too bad we’re not back on my ship,” Kalish whispered. “We could alleviate your problem, so you could focus on your work.” She glanced toward the front of the shuttle, to the backs of the heads visible over the seats. “This vessel is lacking in privacy.”

  “It is. I was just thinking of that deficit. The lav isn’t big enough for two either, not without severe discomfort.” Not that he had been thinking of talking Kalish into joining him in there anyway. If she would deign to have sex with him, he didn’t want that to be the first place they enjoyed each other’s company. An experience like that might ensure she never wanted to enjoy his company again. Besides, what could he offer her with only one hand available?

  “I prefer comfort to discomfort,” Kalish said, stroking his bare belly, tracing the fine hairs that led beneath his trousers.

  “Very understandable.” Sedge closed his eyes, enjoying her ministrations but starting to ache painfully too. He kept himself from running his hand up her thigh, knowing there was nowhere they could go from here. “I should focus on translating the runes,” he said, noting that his voice came out raspy. He didn’t want to focus on anything more than her. “Thatcher will be expecting... results.”

  “But you’re too distracted to focus? That’s a shame.” Her eyes crinkled, and she trailed her fingers up his torso and teased his nipple with her thumb.

  “You’re enjoying tormenting me, aren’t you?” he whispered, his breaths coming more quickly.

  “I’m enjoying touching you, but if you’re a little tormented, you probably deserve that for breaking our passwords and prying into my files.”

  How could he argue with that? His groin was throbbing, and images of rolling her to the deck and tearing off her trousers flashed through his mind. His hand tightened on her thigh, and he forced himself to relax it. This was not going to happen, not here, not while he was on duty, and certainly not with Commander Thatcher up there. The man thought he was deciphering runes, not fantasizing ways to alleviate an engorged cock.

  “I’ve wanted to touch you for a while, you know,” Kalish murmured, still stroking his chest. She licked her lips as she eyed his closest nipple, and he had the sense that she wanted to lick it.
r />   He wanted that too. Very much.

  “I didn’t know,” he whispered back, leaning his head toward her, breathing in her scent again.

  “Since you were doing those silly exercises in bed.” She grinned. “And vacuuming. I got excited by the idea of a man who likes to vacuum.”

  “Really?” he squeaked, though he was sure this was further teasing.

  “No, I thought that was odd. But I could get used to it, especially if I get to touch your lovely muscles.”

  Sedge might have preferred an adjective such as hard, manly, or panther-like rather than lovely, but as long as she was touching him, he would not object. Besides, speaking had grown rather difficult.

  Her hand traced his rib cage down to his belt, then slipped beneath it, rubbing his waist with the backs of her knuckles. They traveled from his hip to his stomach, and he pushed the lid down harder, trying to deny the naked lust coursing down to his groin, but all he wanted to do was thrust up against it. No, against something far more inviting than a metal plate.

  “Thomlin,” Thatcher called, glancing back. “Do you recognize those symbols? Will you be able to translate them?”

  Sedge gulped and lifted his chin. Little more than his and Kalish’s heads should be visible from Thatcher’s point of view, but if he couldn’t make his voice sound normal, it would be clear they were not concentrating on work back here. Maybe it already was clear from the way she was looking at him.

  “I do recognize them, sir,” Sedge said, struggling for a calm and professional tone. Kalish stopped rubbing him for the moment, but she did not look away, and the crinkles about her eyes said she was having a good time teasing him. He would be having a good time, too, if there was the promise of some release. “I’m pulling up a linguistics program to run them against the known runes in the network database. We mostly have guesses when it comes to the alien language, since there isn’t an equivalent to the Rosetta Stone back on Old Earth.”

  There. That sounded like his normal, informative tone, didn’t it? He thought he pulled it off well enough, but Thatcher frowned back at him, as if Sedge had said something odd. Or as if he sounded odd, like a man with a painful erection.

  “Let me know what you find,” Thatcher said. “I am most curious about the map, as it appears to be of these caverns.”

  “Yes, we’re on it, sir.”

  Kalish giggled softly.

  Tick turned around, muttering something. Sedge could guess the content and hoped Thatcher was too oblivious to think anything of it. He had not forgotten that Thatcher had basically forbade Sedge to have anything to do with their employer.

  He glanced toward the lavatory again. “I’m going to go relieve myself.” He meant to imply urination, but Kalish grinned, clearly not fooled.

  “Really? Can I watch?”

  Sedge gaped at her. “You would want to?”

  “I’m curious what you’re smashing down under that lid.” She went back to stroking his chest, and teasing aside, truly seemed to be enjoying the exploration. She kissed his shoulder, her lips parting for a lick. “I would watch, yes.”

  He bit his lip to hold back a groan. The idea that she truly wanted him, that they might even now be making love if they were over on her ship, sent a fresh surge of desire—of urgency—through him.

  “I wouldn’t have guessed that saving a man’s life made you randy,” he whispered, shifting his chest toward her in case she wanted to explore more with her lips.

  “Deciding he’s a noble person and not a bastard does.” She kissed her way from his shoulder to his chest, finding his nipple and sucking lightly.

  Fire raced down his torso and into his groin. He brought his hand up to her head, rubbing the back of her neck and fighting the urge to guide her lower, though he wanted nothing more.

  “The miners have really worked this area,” Tick said.

  His voice brought Sedge back to reality. He leaned close to Kalish’s ear and whispered, “I want nothing more than to be with you, but I also want to keep my job and not have stories of us spreading across the entire company. I’m used to being embarrassed, but I wouldn’t wish to inflict that on you.”

  He kissed her cheek, then tried to push himself to his feet, intending to pop into the lav, masturbate, and then get back to work. Maybe he and Kalish could have a fair translation contest then.

  But he almost collapsed onto his side when he put weight on his injured arm. The repair kit gave him a warning bleat. He stared down at his numb hand. Chagrined, he realized that if he wanted “relieve” himself, he was going to have to do it left-handed. He hadn’t tried that since he had been a teenager and mostly remembered it feeling awkward.

  “Not ambidextrous, huh?” Kalish’s eyes were crinkling again.

  He flushed, mostly because she read him so easily. He ran interrogations of prisoners, damn it. He was known for keeping his face neutral and having body language that gave nothing away.

  Apparently, you don’t interrogate hot women who are turned on by your nobleness.

  “Here, relax,” Kalish said, patting his chest. “I’ll stop tormenting you. I want to see what that lid says too. Unless you want me to see if my hand is in better shape,” she added with a mischievous smile.

  “Er.” Had he heard her right? Had she just offered to... No, they wouldn’t both be able to fit in the lav. He had already ruled that out. He settled down beside her and thumbed the tablet on to scan the runes. Time to get to business. Except... she was watching his face, her brows raised. “Do you want to?” he whispered, hardly imagining that she would. What would be in it for her?

  She glanced toward the pilots’ seats. “That’s probably all we dare, right? Since we’re working back here.” She thumbed on her own tablet with her left hand, murmured, “Alien symbology and linguistics program,” and set the device on the deck by her side when the holodisplay popped up. “Now, let’s take a look at that plate, shall we?” she said and leaned against his arm, resting her hand on his waist again. No, on his belt.

  Nerves and excitement coursed through his veins. He could not take his eyes from her hand as she unfastened his belt. His cock twitched toward her, like a plant growing toward the sun. She spread his trousers, slipped her hand through the slit in his underwear, and brushed her fingers along his heated skin. She pulled him out and gazed down at him with, dare he hope, appreciation?

  He swelled in her hand. She ran a finger up and down, lightly, teasingly. Sedge bit back another groan.

  “I don’t have any lubricant,” she whispered.

  “It’s all right,” he whispered back, just delighted to have her touching him, sliding her hand along his shaft. “I’m allergic to most of it.” He wished he could suck the words back in as soon as he uttered them. Way to remind her that he had so many weird quirks. But she only smiled and reached for him with her other hand, fondling his testicles and brushing her fingernails along the sensitive skin behind them. “It’s more than all right,” he panted, his eyes crossing. “Keep going.”

  “Oh, wait,” she whispered.

  What? He didn’t want to wait. Her hand paused and she dipped into a pocket for a tiny tube of something.

  “Hand lotion.” She held the list of ingredients up to his eyes. “Real simple formula. Will that work?”

  It was hard to read an ingredients list with his eyes crossed. He got through the first three, then simply nodded vigorously, hyperaware of her hand stroking him absently. He would risk hives for this, to have her pressed against his side, lovingly caressing him.

  Her hand withdrew, and a flood of disappointment ran through him, even though he knew she was only moistening her palms. She glanced toward the pilots’ seats as she rubbed them together, then leaned close, grasping him again with both hands. She worked him in earnest now, stroking up his length, twisting slightly, applying just the right amount of pressure.

  He decided not to ask how often she had done this before. He just basked in her experience, pumping into her grip,
watching her watch him. Remembering that his face would be visible to anyone who looked back, he struggled to keep from panting openly, from gasping or making any noise, though the sound of her slick hands hugging his shaft, rubbing up and down, grazing the ridge underneath... who could fail to hear that? He swallowed hard, torn between not wanting to be caught and not caring. He longed to tilt his head back and cry out in pleasure as he raced toward the edge.

  “Picking up mining ships on our sensors,” Thatcher said.

  “That mean the company’s gas cloud or whatever it was wore off?” Tick said.

  Sedge barely heard the words, not caring about anything more than Kalish’s delicious attention. His hips rocked of their own accord, straining with each stroke of her hand. She cupped his balls again, rubbing gently and teasing, even as she kept pumping up and down his shaft with her other hand, grazing his head. The pleasure welled inside him, and he was on the verge of bursting when Tick stood up.

  “Got to take a piss.”

  Kalish heard it too. She leaned back, picking up her tablet, at the same time as Sedge tugged the alien artifact over his lap, hoping Tick would not notice the sweat running down his chest or the flush to his face or the way his trousers sagged about his hips. Shit, there was no way he was not going to get caught. Tick would tell Thatcher, and then what? At the least, he was being derelict in his duty. At the worst, Thatcher would lecture him about getting a hand job from their boss and tell the captain.

  Tick came out of the aisle and veered straight toward the lav without looking at them. The door closed, and Kalish leaned back into him, slipping her hand beneath the plate and around him again.

  “Wait,” he gasped as softly as he could, “for him to go back.”

  “You’re ready now,” she whispered.

  As if he didn’t know. She encircled the base of his penis with one hand and stroked upward with the other, cupping him, not letting him escape. As if he wanted to. He bucked into her hand, his muscles taut as he strained toward her.

  “I want the rest of you later,” she growled lowly, her eyes burning into his, the desire there taking him to the edge. Her other hand came up, joining the first, pumping him until he came with a huge shuddering release that left him slumped against the wall, every fiber in his body melting into a pool.