by Tana Stone
She squealed in surprise as Torven flipped her underneath him, his lower body pinning her to the floor and his cock hard and pressed between her legs.
“Does this feel like I do not want you?”
Trista blinked a few times. “Torven.”
“Yes, mate.” He ground himself into her. “I want to hear you say my name just like that when my cock is buried deep inside you. Actually, I want to ride you so hard you scream my name over and over.”
He saw the confusion in her eyes replaced by a flicker of heat as she arched into him.
Desire arrowed through him as his restraint crumbled. He put one hand under her round ass and jerked her closer as she lifted a leg and hooked it around his waist. He lowered his mouth to hers, savoring the taste of her as his tongue parted her lips.
She sighed as she sank into the kiss, yielding to him and caressing his tongue with hers. Torven moaned at the touch and ground his cock into her. Desire roared through him, making his head swim as she writhed underneath him. He knew he should stop, but everything about her felt right. His need to claim her drowned out every reasonable thought he’d ever had about honor.
Through the rushing of blood in his head, he heard something that made him stop. Reluctantly, he pulled away and put a finger to her lips. Her heavy breathing filled his ears, but he listened for the sound again.
Footsteps. Coming closer.
His gut clenched. It was too soon for Inferno Force to have reached them.
The heavy, crunching steps echoing through the rocks indicated more than one person. A search party. But not a rescue party. If Torven’s instincts were right, they were not Drexian.
Chapter Fourteen
Trista stifled a yelp of surprise as Torven yanked her up and jerked his head toward the spokes of the cave that extended deeper into the mountain. Even though he had to bend when he stood, her head only grazed the ceiling, although she wasn’t sure how roomy the tunnels would be. She eyed their darkness with suspicion.
“We must run,” he whispered
For a moment, she was annoyed. Her body buzzed with arousal, the heat from his touch lingering. Before she could ask him what he was talking about and why he’d stopped, she heard the rhythmic thudding on the ground. She felt a surge of confusion and then relief as she registered the noises. Footsteps. Someone had found them. They were saved. Then she saw Torven’s face, and her gut clenched. “Those aren’t your friends, are they?”
He shook his head, his mouth set in a thin line. He moved deeper into the cave, pulling her with him.
“What about our things?” Trista asked, resisting being dragged away even as the footfall grew louder. “If they see them, it will confirm we’re here.”
Torven scooped up the black heat rods, twisting them to douse them, and dropping them into his open pack while Trista grabbed the blanket and jammed it into her pack, hooking the bag over one shoulder.
She hesitated as she glanced at the tunnels extending out from the cave. “Which one?”
Torven didn’t hesitate before picking the one to the far left and taking off at a bent-over jog with one of her hands in his and his other hand on the wall for guidance. Trista’s heart raced as they went farther into the dark tunnel, and she stayed as close to Torven as she could without tripping him.
No light extended into the tunnel. They were too deep into the rocks, and too far away from the mouth of the cave. It was so dark, she couldn’t see Torven, even though he was inches from her.
“Don’t we have a headlamp or something?” she whispered as she stumbled over a bit of uneven rock.
“We do not, but they would see it, anyway,” he replied.
It’s fine, she told herself as she tried to keep her instinctive fear of the dark at bay. This is better than being caught by whoever came for us. At least she hoped it was. She was trusting Torven on that one.
She couldn’t hear the footsteps anymore, which she hoped meant the search party wasn’t in pursuit. They’d have no way of knowing which of the several tunnels she and Torven had taken, even if they did determine they’d been in the cave, which she doubted they would.
The only noise came from their light footfall and their breath. After a few minutes, Torven stopped and pulled her close and held one hand over her mouth. She knew he was listening, so she held her breath.
Rough, guttural sounds were a distant echo. They’d found the cave, and it sounded like the creatures were arguing. Torven stiffened as he listened.
“Kronock,” he said in her ear, his voice barely audible as he dropped his hand from her mouth.
“You mean the aliens who are trying to invade Earth?” she whispered back.
“Yes.” He did not sound happy.
Trista could feel his body rigid beside her. She guessed she couldn’t blame him. What was the sworn enemy of the Drexians doing here, and how had they found them faster than anyone else?
Torven gave her arm a quick tug and they started moving again, this time walking. She was amazed by how softly he could tread considering how huge he was. Trista followed him on her toes.
The tunnel sloped down, and the air became colder and staler. She shivered and hoped they were moving toward an exit, although she suspected they were simply going deeper and deeper into the ground. Trista tried not to think about the tons of rock overhead, or the possibility of being trapped under it. She’d never been claustrophobic, but she’d also never been inside a rock tunnel under a mountain in the pitch dark.
She didn’t know how long they’d been walking, when the tunnel began to angle up again. Despite her heavy pack and burning legs, she picked up the pace and squeezed Torven’s hand. Going up had to be a good thing, right?
Trista’s toe caught on a ridge in the floor and she pitched forward, giving a small yelp before Torven caught her.
His entire body went rigid as he held her and they both listened. The pounding of feet followed yells farther back down the tunnel.
Shit. They’d heard. Torven yanked her up and they both started running. Trista wanted to kick herself. She knew it had been instinct that had made her cry out, but now they were going to be blown away, all because she couldn’t stay quiet.
You’re so stupid, Trista. The words filled her head before she could stop them. How many times had she heard that? She shook her head as they ran, feeling tears prick the backs of her eyes, and she attempted to ignore the voice in her head. She hated that she could still hear the echoes of her ex-boyfriend, as if he stood next to her. Every time she felt bad about herself, she could count on Rick to show up. Not that she could count on any of her exes when they’d been together.
Her lungs burned as the tunnel became steeper. It felt like Torven was dragging her up the incline, as the sounds behind them became louder. The enemy was gaining on them, and she knew it was because she was too slow.
“You should leave me behind,” she said, her words short bursts between breaths.
“No.”
“Torven,” she said, hearing the desperation in her own voice, “I’m slowing you down. Without me, you can escape.”
A grunt was his only reply.
Trista almost wept. She was going to get them both captured, and he was too stubborn to admit it.
She looked up to plead with him some more to leave her, and she realized she could see the outline of his hair. A tiny bit of light trickled into the tunnel from up ahead. They were almost to the end. There was an end. She sucked in her breath and powered forward.
Torven glanced down at her, and she could make out a faint smile. The smile vanished a moment later as blaster fire hit the wall next to them.
Trista ducked but didn’t slow her pace. They had to get out. She refused to die in a tunnel.
Torven pushed her in front of him and pulled his blaster from his waist, firing back over his shoulder.
She couldn’t tell how far the Kronock were from them, since the tunnel was a cacophony of voices and blaster shots echoing back on each other. The
opening of the cavern was within sight now. Trista dashed for it, desperate to be outside in the freezing cold surrounded by ice again. She didn’t know how much better things would be for them once they were out in the open, but it had to be better than a narrow tunnel filled with blaster fire.
She burst out of the mountain and found herself staring at a vast stretch of ice and snow, with nowhere to hide. So much for things being better once they got out. She spun around to ask Torven where they should go, but he was standing outside the mouth of the tunnel, blasting at the rock face above it.
Trista staggered back as slabs of granite broke off above the opening, and crashed down in front of it. The voices inside grew louder, as Torven continued to fire. More rock sheared off, and the pile at the tunnel’s opening grew.
Blaster fire emerged from the top of the rock pile, and Trista ducked out of the way. The Kronock were firing from inside, but Torven’s landslide of boulders kept falling. When there was only a sliver of space at the top, he stopped shooting and bent over, putting his hands on his knees.
“You will answer for this, Drexian,” a Kronock voice screamed from behind the rocks.
“You’re really racking up the enemies,” she said.
Torven chuckled, then winced as he stood. Since they were outside and surrounded by ice and snow, their environmental suits were now white. Which meant the red splotch on his side was bright against the starkness.
She rushed to him. “You’re hurt.”
He touched a hand to the wound, and it came away covered with sticky blood. “I will be fine. We need to put some distance between us and the Kronock.”
“There’s no point in escaping them if you drop dead in the process,” she said.
Torven frowned. “I will not drop dead.”
“Pigheaded,” Trista said, shaking her head.
“Pig? What is pig?”
She rolled her eyes. “It means you’re stubborn.”
Torven took a step and cringed, clearly in pain. “Should I remind you that you also shot me?” He held up two fingers. “Twice.”
She let out a breath. She was never going to live that down. “I may have changed my mind about you. It’s a woman’s prerogative. And now it’s my prerogative to make sure you don’t die on me.” She pressed a hand to his wound.
Torven grimaced from the pressure. “I think I preferred it when you were attempting to kill me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Torven leaned against the frigid boulder, breathing in the icy air and holding his hand over his wound as Trista had instructed him. The warmth of his blood was a sharp contrast to the cold, and he tried to ignore the metallic scent of it as it trickled between his fingers.
They had decided to wind back into the mountains and search for another cave where they could hide from the Kronock. But not before Trista had insisted on running out onto the icy tundra and leaving a trail to throw off their pursuers.
Torven scanned the white landscape, his stomach tight with worry. He’d argued against her leaving him, but of course, she hadn’t listened. She seemed to have doubled her confidence since he’d met her, going from terrified to headstrong. If this was his doing, he would need to rethink things. Her newfound courage made him uneasy. It was one thing for him to risk his life, but he did not want his mate to be in danger. Even if it meant saving his life.
As she appeared from around the curve in the rocks, he released his breath, but did not stop scowling. “You were gone too long. You said it would only take a few minutes.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I wanted to leave a convincing trail.”
He glanced at the blanket she held, and the one blood-soaked corner. “And my blood?”
“It should lead them far away from us.” Trista wrapped the blanket into a ball and jammed it back in one of the packs. She hiked the pack on her back and slipped an arm around Torven’s waist. “Let’s see if we can find another decent cave.”
They made their way up into the mountains, careful to go in the direction away from where they’d left the Kronock barricaded in the tunnel. Torven tried not to lean on Trista, but his side ached where he’d been shot, and he knew he was losing blood with each step.
After he stumbled for the third time, Trista stopped. “That’s it. Enough with the tough-guy act. We need to take care of your wound.”
He shook his head. “Not until we find shelter.”
Trista slipped out from under his arm, crossed her own arms, and tapped one toe on the ground. “Good luck walking without me.”
He held her gaze and then let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, but let’s be quick.” He leaned against the rock face and dropped his backpack. “The med kit should be in here.”
Trista took the bag from him and began pawing through it. “So, what are the chances that the sworn enemy of your people just happened to turn up here?”
Torven closed his eyes as his head swam. “Low. They aren’t here by accident.”
Trista pulled out the med kit and popped it open. She squatted on the ground to examine the contents. “You think they followed us here?”
“I cannot say for certain, but I can think of no other reason for them to be on this planet.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Trista said. “The scenery is quite nice. I’m thinking about building a summer home here.”
He opened his eyes and saw her smirking up at him. “One of your jokes?”
She nodded, straightening up. “I take it you’ve never seen The Princess Bride?”
“Is this a royal person on your planet?”
She laughed. “No, it’s a…Never mind. It doesn’t matter. You don’t think they just happened to see us heading for the planet and followed us?”
He grunted as she approached him with a medical scanner and a few shiny packets he recognized as disinfectant. “We were using stealth technology. The fact that the Kronock are here tells me that the real traitor is still feeding them information. That’s the only way they could know I escaped the station. The Drexian traitor told them, and they managed to track us, or intercept my transmission.”
“Why do you think they’re trying to kill you?” Trista asked. “Wasn’t framing you bad enough?”
“They probably thought I would have been tried and convicted by now.” Torven’s mind whirled. “The longer I survive, the more of a chance that their entire plan is exposed.”
Her mouth fell open. “So, they have to get rid of you?”
He gave a single nod. “I think so. Which is why we must hide.”
Trista seemed to snap out of her shock. “Right. As soon as I stop your bleeding. We don’t want to leave an actual trail for the Kronock to follow, and right now you’re bleeding like a stuck pig.”
“Again with the pig,” Torven said. “Are these pigs very important on your world?”
“They are if you like bacon.” Trista grinned, clearly amused by her own comment. “Now take off your suit.”
He gingerly unzipped the top and shrugged one shoulder out, flinching as he tried the other side.
“Let me help.” Trista put down the medical scanner and gently tugged at the remaining arm of the suit, her fingers brushing his skin.
He stopped moving and watched her pull his environmental suit down until it hung around his waist. He knew she was doing it to help treat his injury, but the sight of her small hands peeling clothes away from his body made his chest thrum. Even the barest brush of her knuckles against his exposed flesh caused his heart to beat faster.
She lifted his shirt and bent over to get a better look at the blaster wound in his side. Torven followed her gaze. Blood had dried around the blast mark, but fresh blood continued to trickle from the opening.
“I need to clean it first.” She tore open one of the disinfectant packets and rubbed the clear solution over her hands first. Then she squeezed the rest into one palm and applied her hand to his side.
Torven jerked from the cold solution and from the initial sting as it sanitize
d his skin.
She looked up at him, her brows pressed together. “You okay?”
He nodded without speaking. Warriors should not acknowledge pain or weakness, but he felt the burn all the way to his toes. He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. She didn’t move her hand from his wound, but feeling her warmth made him breathe easier. He bent down so her head tucked in under his chin.
She relaxed into him for a second. “Um, Torven? I kind of need to stitch you up.” She tilted her head to peer up at him. “You aren’t stalling, are you?”
He shook his head. He wasn’t a fan of medical treatments, preferring to grit his way through injury, but he’d never admit that to her. “You do not like me holding you?”
“I do, but I also want to get you fixed up.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’d hate for you to be too weak to walk or to…”
She let her words trail off, and heat coursed through his body as he understood her meaning. He didn’t think it would be possible for him to be too weak for that, but he didn’t want to find out. He straightened up. “I’m ready.”
Trista removed her hand from his side and examined the scanner. “So, if I’m right, this should seal you up.”
Torven put a hand on her wrist. “Do you know how to use this?”
Her eyes darted to the small metal device. “I think so. Once Mandy showed me how to, when she gave me a tour of the medical bay back on the station.”
“Once?”
Trista cocked an eyebrow at him. “Yes, once. Would you prefer we wait for a fully-trained doctor to fix you up?”
Torven knew he could not wait. He already felt weak from all the blood he’d lost. He lowered his hand and gave her a half grin. “You are sure this is not another attempt to kill me?”
“Was that a joke, Torven?” She smiled. “I told you I’ve abandoned my plans to knock you off. You’re growing on me.”
Warmth bloomed in his chest that had nothing to do with the burning sensation in his side.