by Morgan Hawke
Khan jerked, choked and made a small, tight sound.
The sound nearly broke her. She bit down on her bottom lip and tasted blood. She dug for the nerve.
“Oh ... shit.” Khan turned away, his eyes closed tight. “Fuck, fuck, fuck ...”
Fallon found it and stabbed into it.
His other arm dropped free and he fell back, landing against the wall.
Fallon ducked under the bar and went to him. She tugged the dagger free from his shoulder and set her mouth on the bleeding wound. She tugged off the other cuff.
His hand came around to the back of her head, pressing her against him. He chuckled tiredly.
Fallon lifted her head and licked her lips. “What?”
He smiled sourly. “You were right. It hurt.” His smile broadened. “A lot.” He looked past her shoulder and nodded.
Fallon whirled around.
The Cheshire cat was back and he was bouncing, but he was not smiling.
Fallon wiped the dagger on her thigh. “I’m guessing it’s time to go?”
The cat bounced higher and a grin appeared, but briefly.
Fallon jammed the dagger back into her boot and turned to Khan. “They’re coming.” She grabbed his limp arm and shook it hard.
Khan gasped, but his arm stiffened as it came online. “Son of a bitch!”
“Now, we have to go now.” Fallon tugged him up onto his feet. “Let’s go, let’s go...”
Khan stumbled after her.
Fallon turned at the door. “I need you to activate your spectral coding to black pixie mode.”
He blinked “Huh?”
Fallon released a breath and rolled her eyes. “Just say ‘black pixie.’”
His brows rose and he tilted his head. “Okay, black ... pixie”
Fallon nodded. “Good, now you’re invisible to their sensors.” She grabbed his left hand. “Stay close!”
Chapter Forty
The Cheshire cat moved out of the hold’s door and to the right, making a great production of exaggerated sneaking with his front paws pressed back against the wall and his humongous round belly sticking out.
Khan smiled at Fallon, his fingers squeezing her shoulder.
Fallon led Khan through the ship and out the access door, closing it behind them. She darted across the dock, following the skipping purple cat.
The Cheshire cat froze in mid-skip. He floated, pretty much like a balloon, until he faced her, his expression clearly questioning.
Fallon’s brows shot up. He probably wanted to know where she wanted to go next. She looked over at Khan.
Khan leaned back against a post and panted for breath.
Fallon winced with the pounding starting in her temples. He needed to be fed, which meant that he was more wounded than he seemed. There was no way he would be able to take the route she took to get here. She looked back at the cat. “Is there a parked glider anywhere nearby? A fast one?”
The cat gave her a head-splitting grin and started skipping away.
Fallon reached back and grabbed Khan’s hand. “Come on!”
* * * * *
The battered glider was sitting against the wall under the window of an office. Fallon frowned at it. That was the station master’s idea of fast? Forget fast, she hoped it was in good enough condition to fly. She ducked down low and headed for it.
Khan followed, moving very stiffly, his mouth tight.
Up against the wall, Fallon eased over onto the glider’s forward saddle, pulled out her piece of wire, jammed it into her wrist and set the end into the glider’s ignition.
The turbines cranked and spun, the engines coming to life with a wild roar.
She looked at Khan and shouted over the maelstrom of wind and sound. “Get on! Get On!”
Khan threw his leg over the back saddle as the office door was flung open and an irate and large human came howling out.
“Shit!” Fallon kicked the glider into a flat, straight up lunge.
Khan shouted and grabbed onto her waist.
She stopped the glider’s lunging rise only meters from the downward curving ceiling.
“Shit!” Khan gasped in her ear. “Don’t get us killed!”
Fallon bared her teeth at him. “Shut up and let me drive!” She looked around. “Cheshire cat!”
The purple cat popped into being, lounging on her handlebars. It gave her a smile and a wave.
Fallon grinned at the cat then looked over at Khan. “Where do you want Sobehk to meet us?”
A klaxon went off somewhere in the dock.
The cat opened his mouth in clear worry and started pointing, clearly wanting them to pick a direction.
Fallon hissed. “Guess they figured out you’re gone.”
Khan grinned. “The Shinto gardens are close to the enclave; take us there.”
Fallon nodded at the cat. “You heard him. I want the shortest, fastest route out of here to the Shinto gardens.”
The cat sprouted teeny-tiny wings and spun away.
Fallon set her feet on the pedals and gripped the glider’s controls. She turned the glider sharply in mid air and they were off.
The purple cat led them into a nearby shuttle tunnel marked with broad gold bands. A blazing grid of electricity marked the tunnel’s far end.
Khan shouted in her ear. “We’ll never get through the security grid!”
“Yes, we will!” She shouted back. “I have the keys to the kingdom!” They were upon the grid in two breaths. The grid dropped and they sped on.
“Mother Night! How did you do that?”
Fallon grinned and pushed the glider for more speed. “I have a guardian angel.”
The cat swerved at breakneck speed into an upward tunnel painted with broad silver stripes, and then through another energy grid. Another swerve took them into a green-banded tunnel ... and traffic.
Fallon’s heart was in her mouth as she urged the glider up and over the two lanes of hovering traffic, bringing the small craft as close to the arched ceiling as she dared, while following the purple cat.
They burst out of the tunnel and into station daylight over meters and meters of spreading forest.
Khan gasped and buried his face in her shoulder.
Fallon screamed for Sobehk with every ounce of mental volume she had.
Surprise and raw fury answered her. Here!
Fallon gasped in relief. We’re heading toward the Shinto gardens. But Khan doesn’t have a robe, and it’s full daylight!
Shock and hope pulsed from Sobehk. You have him?
Fallon bared her teeth into the wind. Of course I have him! She felt a pulse in her collar. Sobehk, that better be you!
It is. Triumph and determination throbbed through the link. I’m using the locater to find you.
Something pinged against the glider’s right wing, then the left.
Fallon blinked. What in fury ...? She looked in her rearview mirrors. Five flat black gliders were behind her, each carrying two riders in black uniforms. The passengers were pointing bolt-rifles. They needed cover, fast.
Alarm came from Sobehk. Isabeau, what is it?
We have five gliders on our tail. I don’t think they’re happy that I took Khan. Fallon glimpsed a path under the trees. She dove for it. The path was narrower than she had thought, and it had a lot of curves in it, but it was wide enough for the glider, and the shadows under the trees were a welcome coolness.
The Cheshire cat appeared just ahead.
The black gliders buzzed above the tree canopy.
Fallon smiled tightly. Cowards .
Worry pulsed from Sobehk. Are they shooting at you?
They were. Fallon urged the glider along the twisting paths the cat chose, dipping low to avoid branches. I’m following a path under the trees; they’re right over our heads.
Keep headed the way you’re headed. We’re close. Anger and triumph shimmered from Sobehk. When you come out stay low, very low.
Fallon’s brows shot up. When we come ou
t?
Khan groaned. “Where’s Sobehk?”
“He’s on his way; he says he’s close.”
“Bloody Chaos, my back is on fire!” He hissed. “I’m sunburned all to Chaos and gone!”
Fallon snorted. “They bit you and beat you, and then I stabbed both your shoulders, and you’re complaining about the sunburn?”
Khan snarled in her ear. “Just shut up and drive!”
Fallon grinned. Khan was in a pissy mood. He must be feeling better.
Don’t forget, stay low! Sobehk’s sending throbbed with white-hot anger.
Fallon was too busy turning into a sharp and sudden curve to answer. The path opened wide, ending in brilliant and treeless sunlight. They burst out over a broad blue lake.
A lake echoing with the sound of roaring turbines from a dozen deep-red gliders marked with black streaks roaring straight at her only two lengths higher.
Fallon dropped the glider as low as it would go. Water sprayed up from below, soaking them to the waist.
The red gliders roared directly over her head. Mehdjay officers in gleaming red armor wearing sculpted helmets with broad, dark sun-visors were mounted in pairs on the gliders. The passengers had bolt-rifles in their hands. Their white braids flew out behind them. They howled and engaged the black gliders at Fallon’s back.
Rescue had arrived.
A red glider at the tail end with a lone rider swerved. He turned and dropped to fly at their side. Get to shore. Sobehk shoved the visor up on his helmet. We need to get him under cove. His back is a mass of blisters.
Fallon couldn’t stop grinning. Yes , ‘Syr.
* * * * *
Within the palatial suite’s black and gold marble bedchamber, the silver-robed medic knelt among the gold sheets at Khan’s side and smeared clear gel all over his back. His face was lined with maturity, but his blue eyes were bright with humor.
Khan hissed and gripped the black pillows. “Shit, shit, shit ...”
The medic smiled briefly. “Ehnya’dhyt Khansu, I promise the burning will pass within the hour.”
Lounging in a black velvet chair he had pulled to the left side of the bed, Sobehk rolled his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples. The blue and white sleeves of his robes spilled over the chair’s arms.
Fallon, freshly showered and back in her red and black short robes, knelt at the edge of the bed on the black carpet at Sobehk’s feet. The shower had done wonders for her body’s aches, but not a damned thing for her splitting headache. Or her temper. Now that Khan was safely back, she was seriously pissed.
The medic finished spreading the gel and handed the white tube to his young assistant hovering at the foot of the bed.
The assistant bowed and slanted a quick glance at Fallon.
Fallon figured she was making the medic’s assistant nervous with her scowling, but the throbbing in her head was making it really hard to give a shit.
The medic sighed. “Ehnya’dhyt Khansu, your sunburn will heal by tomorrow. However, your internal injuries will take more time. I suggest complete bed rest for two days before any exertions.” His gaze flicked to Fallon. “Any exertions at all.”
Khan groaned. “Great ...” He sighed. “I thank you for your kind attention, Sehnbay ’syr.”
“It was my honor, Ehnya’dhyt Khansu.” The regal medic rose from the enormous marble expanse of a bed, bowed, and left with his assistant at his heels carrying his medical kit.
Sobehk leaned back in the black velvet chair and tugged at his blue and white robes. “Oh, no sex for two days.” He grinned. “I feel so bad for you.”
Khan growled. “Pain in my ass.”
Sobehk snorted. “You heard the master-surgeon, not for two days.”
Khan groaned and thumped his fist among the pillows. “Pest.”
Fallon narrowed her eyes at Khan. “I hope you get well soon so I can kick your ass! ”
Khan lifted his head and glared at her. “What?”
Fallon bared her teeth at him. “What the fuck were you doing, throwing yourself into the lift like that? You stupid, egotistical bastard! ”
Khan leaned up on his elbows, bared his teeth, and roared, “I did it to protect you!”
Fallon came up on her hands and knees. She was so pissed she replied with a feral feline scream before she could get the words out. “You could have died! Don’t you ever do that again!”
Sobehk chuckled behind them. “Isabeau, you forgot the ‘I’m better at fighting than you.’”
Fallon growled. “I am better. I could have taken them!”
Khan growled. “What has that got to do with anything?”
Sobehk shook his head. “No, no, no, Khan. You’re supposed to say, ‘I’m the one that’s supposed to protect you.’”
Khan curled his lip. “That’s right, I am supposed to protect you!”
“What a load of crap!” Fallon snarled. “I’m better!I do the fighting!”
Khan’s claws dug into the sheets. “I’m the master -- you’re the rehkyt! I’m responsible for your care!”
Sobehk grinned and nodded. “Now we’re back on track!”
Khan shook his head. “What is this? A script?”
Sobehk smiled. “Something like that. You might as well memorize it. You’re probably going to be using it a lot.”
Fallon gripped the edge of the bed so she could get right up in Khan’s face. “Hey! You, orange-eyed, white-haired pain in my fucking ass! Listen to me when I’m bitching at you!”
Khan growled and focused on Fallon. “Rehkyt ...”
“That’s upuaht rehkyt , you arrogant bastard!” Fallon’s head throbbed so viciously she could barely see though her watering eyes. “I’m the bodyguard! It’s my responsibility to protect your skinny ass! So. Fucking. There!”
Sobehk’s brows shot up. “Uh-oh, that’s going to be a tough one to top, Khan.”
Fallon abruptly dropped onto her belly. “Because I’m fucking right!” She closed her eyes to deal with the pain in her head and the ache in her heart. “I love you, and I could have lost you, you shit.” Her breath hitched and she dropped her head. “Oh, bloody Fate ... I almost lost you.”
Khan’s anger bled out of his expression and his growl disappeared. “You didn’t lose me. You found me.”
She gasped for breath and let the tears fall. “Fate ... it hurts.”
Sobehk shifted behind her. “Do you need to feed?”
Fallon shook her head as the tears slid down her cheeks. “No. He does.” She whimpered softly. “My head is killing me.”
Sobehk snorted. “Then get naked, get in the bed, and feed him.”
Fallon didn’t bother to argue; her head hurt too much. She pulled off her robe, then crawled over the edge and in among the sheets.
Khan shifted to one side and lifted an arm.
She rolled onto her back and scooted closer so he could sprawl partway on top of her. His skin was burning hot. His warm lips brushed her throat. She sighed.
Khan lifted up, and smiled down at her. “I love you, too, you know.” He brushed the hair from her cheek. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
Fallon stuck out her bottom lip. “I shouldn’t have had to rescue you.”
Khan groaned and set his hot brow against hers. “Can we not be finished with this?”
Fallon winced. “Just bite me, damn you.”
Khan set his mouth on her shoulder. His tongue swept her skin and then his long teeth pressed.
Fallon cradled his head and pressed into his teeth.
He bit, hard and deep.
Fallon gasped softly. The pain was fierce, but welcome.
He pulled his teeth free, and his mouth covered the bite to suck at the wound. His hand moved up to cover her breast. His hand squeezed her breast with every swallow.
Fallon’s headache receded, and she moaned, clutching Khan to her. Heat coiled and tightened in her belly, and moisture slicked her thighs.
Sobehk dropped his robes at the edge of the bed
and slid in beside Fallon. His hand covered her hip, then pushed her onto her side.
Khan moaned softly, rolling slightly onto his side. He did not stop drinking.
Sobehk pressed up behind Fallon.
She moaned softly. His cocks were rigidly hard and hot against her backside. “Oh, shit, you’re going to stick that big dick of yours up my ass.”
Sobehk pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and slid his hand between her thighs to bend her knee, setting it on Khan’s hip. “Yes, I am.”
Demanding carnal hunger swamped Fallon, and it didn’t matter that the larger cock was going up her ass; all that mattered was that she was about to be filled. She arched back toward him.
His urgently hard primary cock pressed at the entrance of her anus. It was slick with gel. He must have greased it when she hadn’t been watching.
“Open for me.”
Fallon sucked in a breath and pushed. The broad cockhead spread her and invaded.
He groaned, and his hand tightened on her hip. He surged deeper until his second cock reached the wet mouth of her cunt. He thrust and filled her.
Fallon moaned. His hot cocks filled her tight, right to the edge of pain, but he felt good. He felt right. She turned her head and Sobehk’s mouth covered hers.
Sobehk’s tongue swept against hers in a slow, drugging kiss, gently tasting and exploring. He slid out of her, and then rocked into her, out then in, in a slow, easy, comforting tempo.
Fallon moved against him in a gentle counter-rhythm that matched his kiss.
Sobehk’s hand slid down her thigh, then between her body and Khan’s to claim her clit. His fingers made leisurely, inciting circles as his cocks filled and retreated, building a rich, decadent pleasure that mounted into a thick molten wave of increasing passion.
The soft sounds and musky perfume of shared pleasure rose from their bodies.
The base of Sobehk’s cocks hardened and expanded, filling her and locking her tight. Tension and urgency crested. She moaned her need.
Khan’s clawed fingers dug into her breast, drawing blood.
Fallon’s breath stopped and release took her in a hot wave of pleasure that she gasped into Sobehk’s mouth.
A purr rumbled from Khan’s throat.