Ashes and Metal

by Naomi Lucas

  Elodie moaned the moment they hit her stomach. The pain immediately began to fade. Boosters could ravage a system if used too often but when they were used correctly they did wonders. Gunner held her as energy surged through her body, and within minutes, her head cleared and the lighter wounds she sustained had already begun to heal.

  “Thank you,” she choked out. He opened up her blanket, baring her naked flesh to his view again and took out an aerosol can next, spraying a cool clear mist all over her exposed flesh. Her skin darkened into a blush when he spread her legs open and misted her cunt thoroughly. It numbed and tickled. He finished off the can.

  She sighed happily. I’ll be brand-new by the end of the day.

  “You’re welcome. But I’m selfish and my intentions are too.” Gunner tossed the empty can across the room. “The sooner you’re healed, the sooner I can be inside you again.”

  Elodie clenched. “I’m not ready.”

  He laughed. “You will be soon.” His voice teased, but he re-tucked the blanket around her as he said it. “I haven’t given you everything yet.”

  “We don’t have time. You told my dad to release the prisoners and I don’t know how many of the crew you killed before you arrived. They could be searching for us right now. The ship is still flying and if they’re not looking for us, they will be soon.”

  “True, but I’m an impatient animal who is already strung out to his limit. The world will wait for us.”

  Elodie sat back and fumbled. “No. It won’t.”

  His face was back to being smug. Callous. “Anyone who approaches that door with hostile intentions is going to die a very unpleasant death. Same deal for anyone who plans on distracting me. We’re not in the brig anymore, Ely, there’s no game to be played now. No more pretend. If someone gets in my way, they’re going to die.”

  “Do you kill indiscriminately?” She grasped the blanket to her. “Not everyone who wrongs you has to die.”

  His eyes flashed red. “Right now? Yes, they do. In the current situation we’re in, fear of me will keep both of us safe. The crew is in the throes of a revolt, some with the intention of doing a full-on takeover above. I don’t give a fuck what happens—as long as I get what I want in the end, I don’t give a shit about anyone else.”

  “What if I wrong you?”

  His eyes narrowed on hers. “I wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “But you said indiscriminately. How else should I take this? What if I wrong you and it’s by accident?”

  Gunner wrapped his arm around her and pressed her hard into his chest. Elodie canted her head.

  “If it’s by accident... Then an explanation is in order. If you hurt me or betray me willingly,” he paused, his eyes going distant, “I don’t think I would be able to hurt you even if I wanted, to but it wouldn’t be easy, for you and especially not for me. Trust is a fragile thing, you know that better than anyone. I would seek it again from you even if you hurt me.” His hold on her tightened. “I’ll always tell you the truth or show it to you, even if the truth is fucking hard, and I would hope that you would do the same for me. Do you plan on betraying me?”

  He looked like he wanted to say more but Elodie didn’t pursue it although it was the first time she had ever heard Gunner say something so stunted. There was something he was keeping from her. She knew it.

  Regardless, she was able to relax in knowing that he wouldn’t hurt her.

  “No,” she answered. “I don’t want to wrong you and I don’t have any plans to betray you. But our deal... It still stands? You wanted this,” she waved her hand over her body, “and you got it. Will you still honor your end?”

  Gunner nudged her chin so she fully faced him head-on. The distant look in his eyes was gone and he was focused completely back on her.

  “It still stands.”

  He stood abruptly, carrying her in his arms and walking them to the main room. He sat her down at the table and stepped away to pace the room. She missed the warmth of his body the moment he let go but watched in silence as he picked up the stray items scattered across the floor that had been displaced the cycle before.

  Her gaze landed on the gun and a shiver shot up her spine. He picked it up and placed on the table in front of her with a quiet thunk.

  Elodie pressed her thighs together, suddenly feeling her core throb—feeling as though the weapon were penetrating her all over again. The memory affected her. She felt her inner walls tighten around the hard, unforgiving metal that demanded entrance into the very soul of her.

  She drew the blanket even closer around her while Gunner watched quietly. And with an awkward thud, he lifted the weapon back up, checked the ammo with a tsk and set it back down, all the while flicking the safety on and off.

  She shifted uncomfortably, blurting out, “We need to get off the ship. Do you have a plan?”

  He grunted.

  It was strange talking to Gunner alone and without the possibility of an audience. Now that she was forced to face the reality of their situation, everything that she could think of saying to him just made her nervous. They were still prisoners, of a sort, as they didn’t control the ship. They still didn’t know where they were going or how long it would take to get there, and they definitely didn’t know who would be waiting for them once they got there. Without the barriers or the cells and the distraction of imminent death, she had nothing to hide behind. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth.

  “We can’t stay here,” she said, uncomfortably.

  “I agree.”

  “Then why are we not leaving?" Elodie glanced at the door. “You’re still recovering and we’re up against the wall, practically in a hole.” She paused, suddenly alarmed. “Does the whole ship know I’m a woman?”

  “There’s no need for you to worry.” Gunner abruptly caught her hand and pulled it to his mouth. She tore her eyes from the closed door to look at him. He laid kisses across her knuckles. “There’s no one you need to be afraid of. No one on the ship can harm you, let alone get to you. Relax with me. Please. I need time...”

  “You didn’t answer my question, and it’s not that easy to just...”

  He turned her hand over and slipped his tongue across her palm. Her gaze traveled from his mouth and down to the visibly erect cock between his spread legs. He’d never put on clothes. He was still a little wet...and naked.

  Her desire for him returned and the thought of being repossessed wedged itself among her worry. Those healing sprays were good, but she might need to fill a bathtub with it if Gunner got his way.

  Elodie shifted on her seat. “So do you have a plan?” She tried to stay focused as his other hand moved up and over her outstretched arm, his fingers tickling the sensitive flesh under her elbow.

  “I have several potential plans but it depends on the information we receive once we return to the living.”

  She jerked in her seat. “Then let’s go get that information now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because maybe...” Maybe I’m uncertain about being in your presence. Maybe I don’t trust myself with you? Maybe getting off this ship will be easier if my legs still work. She couldn’t say it aloud. He continued to intensely watch her as his lips and fingers trailed up and down the underside of her arm, moving higher each time.

  “Maybe? Are you in a hurry to get away from me? There’s this new smell coming off you that says otherwise.” His nostrils flared and he sniffed the air. Elodie took her arm out from his grip and shoved it back inside her blanket. That sense of smell could be a problem down the road. But as soon as she thought it, she knew it was a lie.

  He smirked. “You want more. So do I.”

  “We don’t have time.”

  The smirk turned diabolical, almost gleeful and she found it slightly monstrous and unnerving. “Sure we do,” he said. Gunner reached for her and she moved away, slipping off the chair.

  “We can’t stay here, the longer we stay here the more anxious I’m going to get.” Another step back.
“We should head to the escape pods, that’s a straightforward plan!” Gunner stood, reaching for her, and she stepped farther back.

  “Am I making you mad?” he asked, grinning. “I’d like to see you mad.”

  “Time doesn’t stop just because you want it to!”

  He cocked his head to the side almost mockingly. “Are you so certain of that?”

  “Your inability to want to preserve our lives will make me upset, and make this worse,” she hissed, skirting around him as he prowled after her. “My nerves are your fault too. And another thing, you won’t see me mad. You will never see me mad. I’ve had many years practicing and keeping my emotions stifled. Anything that could break my façade was buried.”

  “So you are in a hurry to get away from me. Ely, I’m pretty damn good at reading you. You should know that by now. Your blood is pumping and we both know it’s not entirely from nerves.”

  Elodie dodged around the table in an effort to keep it between them but before she could get to the other side he caught her up in his arms and pressed her body against his. He moved too fast for her.

  “Begging excites me,” he whispered into her ear. A deliciously dark shiver coursed through her. “Leave,” he turned around and sat her on the table, “the rest,” he took hold of her blanket—her protection—and tore it from her grip, “to me.” Gunner nudged between her legs with his own. “Will you let me try and help you relax?”

  Relax? The idea seemed preposterous and so beyond her ability, even the notion made her want to laugh.

  Elodie squirmed and closed her eyes, reaching up to put her hands on his shoulders and hold onto him. She took a deep breath and relinquished to him. It wasn’t easy but she tried hard, and with his help—with his heat and his power—won the battle in the end.

  She sucked in another breath and focused on the warmth of his body, and the chill at her back. Her heartbeat evened out slowly, and when she opened her eyes, Gunner pressed his mouth over hers, soft and fierce, and so unlike everything he emitted.

  The kiss was gentle, then vicious, velvet liquid and quietly savage. He deepened it and sucked her soul out, lashing her with his tongue. God, his tongue. Relaxing was the last thing on her mind as she arched into him.

  She found his wet hair and pulled his face harder into her.

  He pulled away and her mouth moved to re-catch his. Elodie opened her eyes to find him looking down at her.

  “Well?” he inquired.

  She dug her nails into his shoulders and nodded. “Try.”

  A twitch of his lips, a bloom of his gun tats, and the wolfish god under her hands bulged with empowerment. The sudden shift left her breathless and tongue-tied. She’d accidentally summoned a demon. Gunner drew back, cupped her thighs and drew her forward, burying his face between her legs. Frenzied probing fingers nudged and pushed up into her aching core. Firecrackers exploded behind her eyes as they found her sweet spot and played it until she seized.

  Gunner licked her entire length with the flat of his tongue. Her hips jumped up and undulated to imitate sex, her body telling him what she wanted most as her pussy slid across his face, her clit bumping his nose.

  Elodie felt the first climax tear through her not long after, and the stress and frenzied release clouded her senses somewhere between an orgasm and a panic attack, brought on by desperation and lust. Gunner kneaded and pinched her, suckled and played her like an instrument, dragging out her orgasm.

  The energy crescendoed.

  She peered down to see him watching her from between her legs and as their gazes caught, his mouth left her clit to thread his thick tongue through her folds, nipping along the way. The sight was dark and erotic, her pale skin cast in crimson. He was mesmerizing in his intent, feasting. She was entranced as Gunner moved her legs over his corded shoulders.

  The guns tattooed on his cheeks pointed to the one part of her body that needed him most. His tongue joined his fingers inside her pussy, stretching her further. It was even more demanding than his hand.

  Elodie rode it with renewed energy, chasing the continuous high right over the cliff’s edge. Then, as if the cliff was real, she was dragged off the table and pulled down atop him on the floor until she was maneuvered to straddle his face—speared on his tongue.

  His hands gripped her hard, harder than ever before, past the point of pain just as the ship shook like it had been hit by a bomb. All the items Gunner had picked up once again scattered across the floor, ringing more than moans in her ears. The rumbles and tremors were mistaken for another climax as Gunner continued to eat her out, pistoning his tongue—completely undisturbed by the clapping, banging metal around them.

  She fell forward and pressed her hands into the floor, struggling against the violent quakes. “Gunner,” she screeched, feeling gravity shift as his tongue picked up speed. “What’s happening!?”

  “Warp,” he muttered, his breath fanning her quivering pussy. His red eyes stared straight up at her, undisturbed, and wickedly taunting.

  Then he hummed.

  Oh, fuck! Elodie bowed over him and braced because there was no time for anything else. No time to find something to strap herself to.

  But Gunner had her covered.

  Chapter Seventeen

  HALF A CYCLE PASSED as he kept Elodie safe with him in the mechanics’ breakroom.

  Chesnik had returned several times throughout but he was never allowed to stay long, regardless, it hadn’t deterred the man from trying. Eventually, Gunner let him see his daughter but only for a small reprieve.

  Gunner left her sleeping within, now comfortable in an array of forged supplies, as he made his way back to the main passageways, back toward the brig where the others were now free. The familiar pungent scent of the prisoners gradually replaced the acrid rust and the humidity of steam rising from the machines.

  But every step away from Ely was difficult, as if there was a noose tight around his neck—or his heart—and she held onto the other end.

  Gunner stepped through the latch and familiar men—now equipped with guns—were stationed on the other side.

  He closed the door and jammed the locking mechanism. No one was going to be getting in and out without his knowledge.

  “Any news?” He approached the first.

  “Besides the abrupt warp jump that most of us miraculously survived, not much in the news front. We’re locked down here in the underbelly. The pirates have the second and presumably the third level elevator on lockdown. Every live man we’ve sent up has come back down to us as a bullet-ridden corpse.”

  “How many casualties?”

  “One man broke his neck during the warp. We think he was asleep when it happened and didn’t have time to hang on to something. The rest,” the prisoner shrugged with exhaustion, “killed. There’s fourteen of us left but several refuse to fight and they remain in the brig like frightened cattle. Fucking cowards. Those idiots think we’ll all die regardless and there’s no point in trying to fight for freedom. I mean, they don’t even want to fight for food! But how can you blame them? I guess fear sucks the soul out of some people.”

  Gunner nodded. He knew what fear could do better than anyone. Mixing fear with uncertainty, and adding a dash of anxiety, was a cocktail for a crash-and-burn of the worst kind. The fact that Elodie was able to sleep for more than an hour at a time made him a grateful beast.

  “And what about you? Are you willing to fight when the stench gets thick?” he asked, curious.

  “Like it isn’t already? I’ll be fighting. Freedom tastes good, even if it’s a lie. Either way, I won’t be dying on an empty stomach or cowering in the dark if it comes down to that. I’ll die on my feet before I go back on my knees.”

  Gunner gripped the man’s shoulder. “Good.” He left him to find the others.

  It didn’t take him long before he found Chesnik. He was sitting behind several makeshift barricades near the elevator. Gunner’s gaze moved up to where the door was currently jammed open by a metal crat
e.

  Below it and scattered on the floor were broken androids and bloodstains that ended with no bodies attached. He rubbed the back of his neck. No carrion for him to be distracted by.

  His target was fiddling with a gun but stopped when he neared.

  “News?”

  “Ely?” Chesnik shot back.

  Gunner moved closer and lowered his voice. “She’s fine. Sleeping if you should know, and healing. She’s in better conditions now than she has been in weeks. Probably years.” He would almost call what he created for her a nest, but no man was privy to his inner thoughts.

  “Go fuck yourself, Cyborg,” Chesnik sneered.

  “Why?” he goaded unfairly.

  Chesnik stared at him with hatred. “You know why.”

  “I have some suspicions...”

  “You're using her!”

  Gunner made a loud noise to cover the outburst and he was at Chesnik’s side in the next second, whispering, “Elodie is a woman. An adult I may add. She can make her own choices and she chose me.”

  Chesnik chuckled with self-deprecation. “Under duress. What do you think this situation is? We could die at any time, or we could be overrun and be made into slaves. Neither option is comforting. None of her choices, or anyone's for that matter, are sound.”

  The plates in his jaw demanded to shift to reveal his jackal in its dark profile. There was nobody in the universe that would talk to him like this without fear of death—death he would gladly give. Except Chesnik, apparently. The man knew he was untouchable, because of Elodie and the deal they had between them.

  Gunner narrowed his eyes and took in his mate’s father. Maybe he knows what I really want. He’s afraid I’ll take her away from him. He clicked his tongue and the blood that frenzied his veins forcibly cooled down. He should be.

  “You have little faith in your daughter,” his voice darkened the man’s ear. “She’s followed you her whole life because of love? Maybe? Misguided trust? If anyone is wrong in their fucking head, it’s you. Do you really think I’m coercing her?” His laugh was strained and quiet. “I’m the fucker bending to her will. For once, your daughter has a little control over her life. Let her have it.” Gunner wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and took a half step back.