by Rosette Lex
“What the fuck--You got nine rifles on you, you dumb son of a bitch! How drunk are you?”
“Not a bit, unlike yourselves. Also, if you wish to be precise, it is three rifles. Not nine.” Corin smirked, his eyes gleaming. May’s toes curled as she watched.
It slowly dawned on Tom that the good ol’ boys who had bellied up the back of the hill behind Corin should have stood up and aimed by now. His jaw dropped, then wavered as his skin turned the color of old cheese. “What the hell….”
“It’s quite simple. I kill trespassers. Your friends are dead.”
Tom stared at him. “You couldn’t possibly have gotten all six--”
Corin simply aimed at one of the men with the rifles and pulled the trigger. The other two screamed and fired at him--and he was suddenly in midair, a ten-foot vertical leap at least, his legs curled under him as he sailed toward one of the deputies. He pointed his weapon to the side and fired at the second deputy, who like his buddy disappeared in a cloud of black ash.
Chaos erupted. Tom yelled half coherent orders that were mostly curses. The deputy tried to get Corin in his sights, but he landed on the end of the rifle and it fired into the ground. He leaped up again, preparing to kick the man in the face...and that was when a red object tumbled toward him through the air, thrown by one of the men by the Jeep, and spitting sparks from one end.
May recognized it as dynamite a split second before it went off.
Time blurred. She was out of her seat and screaming Corin’s name, her horrified eyes fixed on the screen as the cloud of dust and blood cleared. The deputy had been blown in half; she couldn’t look at him, all that mattered was Corin lying there, clothes and skin in tatters, face bloody and eyes closed. Corin, maybe not dead...but he wasn’t moving, not at all. Not even, as far as she could see, to breathe.
Tom was screaming too. “Oh my God, oh my God you fucking idiots, you blew up Clarence! What the fuck--what the fuck were you doing throwing sticks of dynamite around? You were just supposed to wire the Jeep to blow! Just the Jeep!”
The two men, blond lumberjack-looking types whose noses almost matched their shirts from gin blooms, stared at each other and then at the pile of deputy. One of them coughed, and tried to speak up--and Tom stomped up and punched him in the face.
“Come on, let’s go, let’s get outta here before someone gets curious about the goddamn dynamite explosions! Go!” Tom all but threw them both off in the direction they had come from. The three turned tail and ran for all they were worth.
Chapter 6: Brushes With Death
May ran to the door and threw it open, hurrying outside. Adrenaline gave her strength, and she ran across the bloody mire outside and grabbed him. Corin was in one piece, warm, she felt a pulse, he was bleeding and unconscious and horribly hurt but he was not blown up, and he wasn’t out yet.
She had to get him inside. Checking him gingerly for broken bones first, she hooked her arms under his and started dragging. It took all her strength; she had to stop several times, panting and sobbing. She nearly fell twice getting him up onto the narrow porch, and then through the door. She slammed the door, locked it, dragged him the rest of the way into the bathroom, and used the last of her strength to bundle him into the tub.
He had used the water as some kind of conductor for his powers. Maybe it could help kick-start his own healing. She gingerly stripped off his bloody clothes, and then started filling the tub, praying his wounds would close and not start bleeding out like a human’s might in warm water. The water started going pinkish right away, but...as she rinsed, it started to clear. His wounds were starting to close. She re-stoppered the tub and let the water fill it up to his chest.
“Come on, Corin. You can do this. What’s a little dynamite?”
He gasped, and she saw faint golden threads of energy run through the raw flesh beneath the water. The skin started to knit itself up across his chest and arms. Gently, she reached for a wash cloth and started wiping the blood off his face and out of his hair. Those golden sparks ran over him, through him, his hairs standing on end from it, his body trembling slightly even as his eyes stayed tightly closed. His breath came fast and hard, as if the regeneration took a strong effort, like running.
She washed the blood from him, and watched the light dance under the water as his superb body healed itself. Tears of relief sprang to her eyes. “That’s it. There you go, soldier.”
His eyelids fluttered, and then slid open. He slowly looked around. “May...what….?”
“They blew up one of their own men to get you.”
“Barbaric,” he murmured, sounding both disgusted and embarrassed.
“It seems that I have underestimated their savagery, and paid for it.” Then he blinked at her. “How...did you know about the water?”
“I paid attention when you healed me the first time. I figured there was a reason besides getting the blood off me that had you doing it in the t-tub.”
He reached up with a warm, wet hand and weakly brushed the tears off her cheeks. “Do not mourn. I will heal...soon...I only need rest to recover now. Thanks to you.”
She held his hand and pressed her lips into his palm, and his eyelids hooded slightly. “I thought you were done for.”
“I am a leader among my people. Only those who can survive extreme combat achieve my rank. I apologize if I...worried you.” He offered a wan smile, and lowered his hand, his expression going grim again.
“But it seems my underestimation of those men has caused me more problems than injury. Three escaped. They will return with others, and they will tell their story. I am compromised now. My mission is a failure.” He glanced away, his green eyes dull with tired humiliation.
“Not yet,” she replied.
“Tom and the others, they have no friends outside town, and no one who respects them. They can try and get their story out, but considering that they just accidentally murdered one of their friends, and a cop to boot...I don’t think they’ll dare tell anyone besides more of their drinking buddies. You’re not compromised. Though you’re going to have to clean up that mess in the front yard if you don’t want to attract attention.”
His resolve strengthened at her words, and he set his jaw. “I see.”
He tried to sit up, and groaned, settling back into the water. “I require a few more minutes. If I give you instructions for some of my base’s equipment, will you assist in this ‘cleanup’?”
“Of course.” her heartbeat was finally getting back to normal. “Just tell me what to do.”
The communications room again, staring into the glow of the view-screen from before. Gingerly she reached for the screen, dragging her fingertip across it. A pale green line appeared. She carefully circled the mess in the yard--body parts from the Deputy mostly--and then tapped the center of the circle. Two symbols appeared. “The one that looks like a flame, he said,” she murmured to herself, and tapped it. The mess in the yard started turning to black ash as she watched. Finally, the circle flashed brighter green, and then vanished.
She went out to look for his guns and see what those idiots had been trying to do with the Jeep. The dynamite had left a small crater in the forest floor, but now it just looked like another part of the muddy landscape. She found one of his pistols in a tree, knocked it down with a dead branch, and carried it as she searched for the other one. No luck. Frustrated, she limped to the Jeep and stood there peering into it instead.
They had loaded the back with dynamite. Some sort of explosive device sat on the ground nearby, wired to a few sticks--probably meant to set off the others by remote control. The sight of it filled her with rage. She took the device and flung it off into the bushes, where it couldn’t hurt much of anything by detonating. One more look around for the second pistol, and then she came back in, too tired to continue.
The bathtub was empty. She followed the drips of water to one of the rooms she hadn’t been in yet; the door was ajar, and she walked in carefully. Corin’s bedroom. Drawers
and another open wardrobe set into the wall, a bare smooth floor, and the bunk alcove, which was wider and longer than her own.
Corin curled naked on his side in the middle of the mattress, his eyes tightly closed. The last of his wounds had healed, and she could only see faint reddish marks now where he had regrown his skin. He rolled over when she approached, as if sensing her, and reached an arm weakly in her direction.
She stared at him. She had not been able to enjoy his nudity before, when it was bloody and full of wounds. Now, she could look at him as much as she liked...and the sight of him caught her breath in her throat.
His sleek, hard body, smooth-skinned and almost hairless save for his cropped blond hair and a sparse patch of curls at his groin. His powerful thighs, the way his broad shoulders balanced his clipped waist and long legs. A second tattoo of the same iridescent, circuit-like design as the one on his back swirled over his skin from his navel to the base of his penis, which was long, thick and smoothly uncut against his thigh. A narrow scar, like an old knife wound, crossed the top of his right thigh, and she wondered what sort of weapon had managed to scar him despite his healing powers. But that thought passed quickly as she drank him in.
May thought about it for a long few moments, then reached up for the pins holding her gown to her shoulders. The fabric slid down to puddle at her feet, and she stepped out of her sandals. Then she crawled into bed with him, nestling into his arms.
He made a low sound of confusion, and opened his eyes. She smiled at him softly, as he hazily came to grips with where they were and what she was doing. His hand slid up her bare back, making her shiver, and she felt his manhood stir between them.
“May, this is dangerous,” he murmured, with a little shake in his voice. “You should...go….”
“No,” she whispered in his ear.
“It’s all dangerous. Life is dangerous. I love you. I want to be with you. And I’m not going to keep a distance after what just happened.” As she spoke, her hands stroked his chest, and then started trailing up and down his belly. He shivered, but his exhaustion weighed his eyelids.
“May...I do not even know yet if I can afford to love you….” But there was such anguish and loneliness in his low voice that just cuddled and caressed him more insistently. “Get some sleep...we can work this out...when we’re rested.”
He moaned gently, and just held her until his body went limp in sleep. She stroked his hair, feeling a terrible gratitude that he was tougher than human, and that he was already almost whole again. Then exhaustion claimed her, and she laid her head on his chest and slept.
Chapter 7: Tempting Fate
She woke in darkness, already shivering from the large, long-fingered hands exploring her skin. Corin was awake, his outline barely visible but his body warm and solid against her and his breath coming in shudders. His fingers slid over her breasts; he cupped them, kneaded them, then lowered his head to cover them with soft kisses.
May moaned gently and pushed against him, her fingers twining in his hair. He grew bolder at her encouragement, swirling his tongue over her aching nipples one at a time until her breath came in sobs, then suckling them insistently. His hands slid down to cup her ass, and she hooked a leg over his hip, feeling his erection slide against her. “More,” she whispered. “Oh please, don’t stop….”
“May...oh May, I shouldn’t but...I….” his whispers against her skin only maddened her further, and she slid down to kiss him hungrily.
“I don’t think I can stand it if you don’t. Please, Corin. I want you inside of me.”
He was silent in the dark, his manhood throbbing against her belly. Then he growled and pulled her closer, his kiss rough with desperation. She felt the warm sparks of his power start running through her skin from his mouth and hands, and whimpered, rubbing herself against him.
His breath came in ragged gasps as he started kissing down her neck again. His fingers explored every inch of her skin, lingering where it made her gasp and shiver. His confidence grew as she moaned his name and writhed under him. But she wasn’t satisfied with letting him learn her body; her hands wanted to learn his, and started sliding over him. His chest, his shoulders, his back, his tight-clenched ass; she ran her nails over the last and he rolled his hips, letting out a grunt.
The longer they went on, the more her mind swam, and the bolder he became. She dove in with equal fervor, squirming against him in encouragement as he slid an exploratory finger into her moist depths.
“Nnn...Corin…that’s so good….”
He curled the finger inside of her, stroking her inner walls tentatively. She grabbed his shoulders and arched against him, and he smiled and kept caressing her, the side of his hand pressing against her in just the right spot. Tingling heat shot through her from his hands, and she moaned and ground against them softly.
May had known a lot of sexual frustration in her life; every time Tom had driven off a boyfriend, it was the same damned awful thing, leaving her aching and unsatisfied and furious. But she had never felt before as if going unsatisfied might literally kill her. She had to come, she had to feel him inside of her, she was completely possessed by animal instincts and it felt amazing. Desperate. His hands on her made her squirm, he was kissing her throat again, and she thrashed and trembled under him….
...Until she realized. Her eyes flew open, and she looked up at him, at his own need showing in every line of his face. He was trying to bring her off without him--ignoring his desire to keep from endangering her. “Corin….” she panted. “Wait, no….”
He looked her in the eyes, very deliberately, and then lowered his mouth to her nipple and suckled it roughly. His hands still moved against her, and it felt so good...and then better and better and better--
The paroxysm of ecstasy shook her whole body, too intense, she screamed wordlessly, gasped for air, and then let out a long full-throated moan. He groaned through his teeth as he watched, his whole body shaking with barely-restrained lust. “Corin,” she sobbed, in pleasure and grief. “Oh, Corin….”
She collapsed to the mattress and he turned away, breathing hard, the muscles in his back bunched as he fought himself. She couldn’t quite move yet, her lungs just couldn’t seem to draw enough air, and though her heart was unsatisfied, her body could have purred. Finally, she sat up limply, and slid her hands over his back.
He shuddered and let out a grunt. “Don’t...I must not. I won’t endanger you.”
“Potentially endanger me,” she murmured in his ear. “Potentially find someone you could have every night for the rest of your life.”
He jolted with surprise and turned to look at her, his green eyes all but luminous. “You…would think on those terms of us?” But then he hesitated again, glancing down. “My oath...”
“An oath you have kept while waiting for the day you won’t have to keep it any more. Something you will never know you can if you don’t find out whether we really are compatible. Your instruments said yes. That just leaves a few things...that have to be done in person. Just to make sure.” She slid a finger down his shoulder and his chest heaved.
Sweat broke out over his back as he shivered under her hands. “If this kills you, it will destroy me.”
She kissed him, lingeringly, tenderly--and then clambered around onto his thighs, startling him enough that he didn’t stop her. Her fingers twined around his length, and he shuddered and let his head fall back with a groan. She went on in a low voice, looking him in the eyes.
“If you let fear stop us...and it turns out you didn’t have to all this time...what will that do to you? Because I know what it will do to me.” She put a hand on his chest and nudged at him. “Lie back.”
He settled back on his elbows, eyes a little wide as she kept stroking and teasing him. “You have...a point….”
“My life started again when I met you. I’d rather have one night with you than spend a long life without ever knowing how it could be.” She rose up on her knees, moving forward and
positioning him between her thighs.
His eyes widened, and his hands shook in midair between them, as if he couldn’t sort out any more whether to seize her or push her away. She waited, not wanting to force anything, but knowing his need was at least as great as her own. Finally, his hands settled on her hips, and tugged them downward.
She slid down over him slowly and smoothly, while a groan worked its way out from between his teeth and then burst into a series of hard, anguished pants. She rolled her hips gently as she lowered herself a finger-width at a time, until finally she settled onto him fully.
His belly flexed and he lifted his hips under her as she started moving against him slowly. His wide, amazed eyes stared at her, and then slowly fell closed as his mouth opened. The sounds coming from her throat sounded desperate, almost those of pain. His fingers dug into her hips, and he started moving in earnest, rising to meet each down-stroke and then picking up the pace. His muscles strained; he writhed, heels digging against the floor, then the side of his bed.