Elite Starfighter: Starfighter Training Academy - Game 3

by Grace Goodwin

  At first, nothing happened. Slowly, I saw movement, a bowing in the center of the beam where Darius had his arms wrapped around it.

  “Is that enough?” His strained voice reminded me of the only other time I’d heard him that focused and out of breath. That time, he’d been bending and breaking me into a mess of shattered, orgasmic pieces.

  I would never get enough.

  “Step back please.” Tor waited for Darius to abandon the structure and scanned it again. “Yes. I believe that will create sufficient stress on the joints to increase the impact of our explosives.”

  “Great. Where’s the next one?”

  Darius moved to the second beam connected to the central node Tor had chosen as our target. I moved to the third position and pulled. Twisted. Put everything I had into it until my muscles burned.

  Tor was a Titan. I didn’t know that my extra effort had any effect, but I wasn’t about to take any chances.

  A few minutes later, Tor gave us the go ahead to attach the bombs we carried. Each placement marked for maximum effect.

  “Next?”

  A new set of targets appeared on my nav grid. “That’s on the other side of the ship.”

  “Each target is equidistant.”

  More geometry. “Fine. How are we going to get over there this century without using our boosters?” I glanced down at my grappling claw and the line that ran between the claw to my Titan. “I have an idea.”

  “Yes, love?”

  “Ever play leapfrog when you were a kid?”

  “I have never leaped a frog.”

  I handed the business end of my grappling claw to Tycho and extended the attached line to its maximum length. “Don’t let go.”

  “Never.”

  With that, I used Tor’s mighty strength to propel me through space until the line caught, yanking me to a halt. The force stop caused me to move backward, toward Darius, but I caught a beam and wrapped my arms around it. Legs, too. “Your turn.”

  “Don’t let go.”

  “Never, Darius. You’re mine.”

  With a running start, Darius leaped forward, his Titan moving toward me at a mind boggling speed. “I shall hold you to that, pair-bond.”

  He shot past me and I braced for the sharp tug I would feel when he hit the end of the line.

  Moments later, it was my turn again, but we’d already covered a significant distance.

  “This is going to work.”

  “Of course it is.”

  We spent the next few hours leapfrogging past one another all over the enemy ship. I didn’t know how close we were to Xenon, or Velerion or the war. But we were moving as quickly as we could and praying Tor’s plan would work.

  When the last beam was sabotaged and the final charges placed, I heard Darius take a deep breath. “Come on. Hold onto me.”

  “What the plan?” I asked, moving Tor into Tycho’s reach. Darius and I wrapped the Titans’ arms around one another. I was not letting go.

  “We get the fuck off this ship and pray your friend Mia is as good at her job as everyone says she is.”

  “She is. I know her. She’ll find us.”

  “You trust her?”

  “With my life.” I wanted to hold him, skin to skin. Feel his heat. Taste his air. All I could do was stare at his face on a screen. “And yours, Darius. She’ll find us.”

  “All right. Your call. I trust you.”

  And there they were, the words I’d been waiting to hear my entire life. Even as I smiled with pleasure I realized I didn’t need them. Not anymore. I knew who I was and what I was capable of. I didn’t need anyone else to tell me what I could or could not do, who I was. What I was worth. I made that decision. No one else.

  “I love you.”

  “You said that before.”

  “Are you tired of hearing it?”

  “No. Never. But I would prefer to have you naked and gasping for air when you say it.”

  “Of course.” I began to see the nearly infinite appeal of Tor’s favorite response. So many layers of meaning.

  “If you two are finished, I have set the detonation systems to active. The moment the beams experience increased tension from a detachment event, it will set off a chain reaction. Failing that, I have set a timer on the initial explosive for ten minutes to initiate the event. We need to go,” Tor said.

  “Copy that.” Darius looked at me, or rather, directly into his screen. “Ready?”

  “Always.”

  “Magboots off and maximum jump in three...two...one...jump!”

  Tycho and Tor took care of deactivating our magboots as we used every ounce of power our Titans’ possessed to leap away from the ship and into space.

  Clinging to one another, we floated away as the Battlestar continued on its journey. “Do you think the others made it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think so, too.” I had a good feeling about this. If we had figured out a solution, I had to have faith that the other Elite Starfighters had a well.

  “Lily?”

  “Yes?”

  “I read your books last night.”

  Oh. My. God. “I threw those away.”

  “I knew they were important to you. I retrieved them.”

  “And you read them? Why?”

  “I was trying to understand where I’d gone wrong. What you needed.”

  Oh shit. “I don’t need an Atlan beast, Darius. Not when I have you.”

  “I’ll make sure of that.”

  “So? Why are you telling me this now?”

  “There was one part of the story in particular that I feel I must ask about.”

  “What part?”

  “Do you like chocolate cake and cherry cheesecake?”

  Holy shit. He really did read them. “Do you even have chocolate on Velerion? Or cherries?”

  “I will find a way to acquire some. I would very much like to do as this Rezzer did and taste your favorite sweets directly from your skin. And your pussy.”

  Was it hot in here? What was I supposed to say?

  Say yes, stupid.

  “Okay. Yes. I’d like that.”

  “Excellent.”

  I’d like him to tell me he loved me as well, but I could wait. I didn’t need external validation. Not anymore. I could love him and not worry about anything else.

  The feeling was damn liberating.

  We floated silently for what felt like hours but was only a few minutes before Tor’s voice interrupted my imaginings of Darius licking chocolate frosting off my nipples and cherry syrup from my…

  “Detonation in five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One.”

  The blast was small. Disappointing. More like a tiny flicker of light than an explosion.

  “That was anticlimactic,” I said.

  “Wait for it,” Darius said and I bit the inside of my cheek as Tor enlarged our view of the enemy ship.

  At first nothing happened. There was no sound in space, but I imagined I could hear the bent beams of the ship’s rail systems squeaking and groaning with strain as the massive ship attempted to break apart in response to the explosion. They would believe they were under attack.

  Nothing.

  “Are you sure they will separate, Tor? That wasn’t a small bomb and a really big ship.”

  “Tower separation is standard operating procedure for Battlestars under attack.”

  I really, really hoped he was right.

  The first sign of trouble was a small flash near the core. Then another. Another.

  I squealed with glee as the ship lit up like a string of flashing christmas tree lights and the pieces, the towers, detached, spewing fire and atmosphere that propelled them in random, uncontrollable directions.

  Two collided. The burst of light made me close my eyes.

  The shockwave rolled over us, shooting us deeper into space faster even than the rail launcher inside the Velerion shuttles.

  Darius and I clung to one another, all smiles.

 
“It worked,” I said.

  “Of course,” Tor replied.

  No doubt about it, this time he was absolutely being smug.

  Now, for that rescue Mia had promised. We were moving fast, in the wrong direction in the middle of a massive field of debris from that Battlestar.

  “How much air do you have left?” I asked.

  “Enough.”

  “Damn it, Darius. Stop trying to protect me.” I was down to less than twenty minutes.

  “Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen.”

  “Tor, link your air supply to Tycho’s.”

  “Lily, no!”

  “Don’t argue! If you die, we both die. Got it? We are either in this thing together or we’re not. You can’t treat me like a child. I am a Starfighter, Darius. Just like you.”

  “No. You are not like me, my Lily. You are far superior and always will be.”

  “Good. Then stop arguing. Tor?”

  “Already done, Lily.”

  “Thank you.” I tried to remain calm, preserve the air supply. Panicking wouldn’t help. I’d taken SCUBA training and knew the worst thing I could do was panic. “Come on, Mia. Come. On!”

  “I love you, Lily.”

  “Shut up. Just shut up. We are not going to die out here.”

  Darius laughed and the sound had me smiling back at him. “I love you, too. And you are not dying on me. I want that chocolate and cheesecake.”

  “There was another. A male named Dare. Very similar to my name, although he and his mate wore a strange collar. He restrained his mate so he could enjoy tasting her core for an extended period of time without interference.”

  If I didn’t suffocate from lack of oxygen, I might burn alive from Darius’s new knowledge from the contents of my romance novels.

  Perhaps I wouldn't hunt down the author if I ever returned to Earth. Maybe, I’d thank her instead. Hot, sexy aliens really did exist. And this one was mine.

  “Mia! Where are you?”

  Tor’s calm tone made me jump. I’d forgotten about him. Again.

  “I have reactivated our communications and scanners. A Velerion shuttle is closing in on our location now. Estimated arrival in fifteen minutes.”

  “That’s not fast enough.”

  Darius was right. We wouldn’t last that long.

  “Tor, we still have some juice in the boosters?”

  “Yes. Very little. Less than five percent.”

  “Get us five percent closer to that shuttle.”

  “Of course.”

  15

  Lily, Moon Base Arturri, Three Days Later

  * * *

  We were alive. We were naked. The other Titan teams had been successful and the Dark Fleet had officially withdrawn their support of Queen Raya’s claim on the Vega system.

  The war had taken a turn in our favor. For the first time since Queen Raya’s initial attack, Velerion was winning.

  They’d given me a medal. Darius, too. I felt like a peacock at the zoo when they lined up the three Earth women along with their Starfighter men and hung medallions the size of dinner plates around our necks. I was shocked when a man in a robe--he looked more like a monk than a politician--proudly announced that at least a dozen additional humans had nearly completed the training simulations. Twelve more earthlings would soon be on their way. He didn’t specify if the new Starfighters were male or female, where they were from. Their age.

  None of that mattered if they knew how to fight, or fly, or hack into enemy ship systems.

  The leaders of Velerion had given the training simulation designers medallions as well. I’d once believed computer nerds were the same the universe over. But no. These programmers, engineers and designers were hot. Even the women, and I didn’t normally pay attention to women.

  Everyone was chuffed. They gave us our medals, hosted a feast followed by a dance--I knew zero steps, depending on Darius to carry me around the room--and continually requested support from the obviously influential or wealthy Velerions in attendance.

  Seemed pomp, circumstance and ass kissing was a thing everywhere.

  I didn’t care about the shiny swirl shapes Darius had insisted we hang on our wall. It was the Starfighter emblem and matched the dark swirls we each had on our necks. That was what I cared about. I had the prize I wanted.

  Him.

  I sat on the edge of our bed and reached for him. He knelt on the floor before me, our faces almost perfectly aligned. Darius leaned forward and cupped my jaw. “I will not be gentle. I need you.”

  He kissed me then, softly, so sweetly that his words took longer than they should have to register.

  Did I want him to be gentle? Sometimes. But not right now. Right now I needed wild and rough and desperate. This was the first time we’d been truly alone in our own space since returning from the mission.

  * * *

  I didn’t want soft or slow. I wanted him to fuck my brains out and make me forget my own name. I wanted to be reduced to animal lust. Mindless. Consuming.

  I wanted him to lose himself in pleasure, sink into my body and never want to leave.

  The thought made my pussy clench. God, yes, I wanted him to claim me. Mark me. I wanted my fingernails to leave marks on his skin so no other woman would dare think about taking what was mine. I wanted to feel possessed. Worshiped. Loved. I wanted to close my eyes and give him everything. “I don’t want gentle. I need you, too.”

  With a moan that sounded like pain Darius crushed his lips to mine, his tongue teasing and tasting me as if he would never get enough.

  I felt his huge hands reach up and around me to the back of my neck, holding me in place for his kiss, his possession.

  When I was panting and weak, he pulled his lips from mine. “Lay down on the bed. Face down. I want to play.”

  Eager to see what he had in mind, I climbed onto the bed and settled on my stomach.

  “Spread your legs, Lily. Let me see what’s mine.”

  Oh, god. I knew this part of the story. I’d probably read it at least a dozen times. And I knew I wasn’t supposed to obey him fast enough. Knew what was coming...

  As expected, a sharp smack landed on my bare bottom. The sting spread like wildfire and I gasped as the heat reached my core. As instructed, I moved my thighs a bit farther apart, but Darius, as per the role he was playing in our game, used both hands to push my knees wide. He took a large pillow from the pile near the head of the bed and lifted my hips to slide the pillow beneath me.

  I fought back a low moan as I tried to imagine what we looked like. Together. Him hard and ready behind me, poised to plunder and take and show no mercy.

  I understood how Hannah felt in the book. Like her, I was completely at his mercy. My ass was up in the air, displayed in the brightly lit room. My pussy was open and waiting. Hungry for him. The cool air in the room did nothing to lessen the heat.

  “So pretty, Lily. So wet. Swollen. Are you sensitive?” Darius rubbed my ass cheeks with both hands, pulling hard enough to put my core on display. His fingers swiped through the wetness but denied me relief. He teased me as my body heated everywhere he touched.

  Two large fingers slipped inside me and I cried out at the invasion. “Who is your master now, mate?” He finger fucked me until I moaned and pushed back against his hand. “Your pussy is so wet I could fuck you right now, take you hard and fast and you’d beg me for more.”

  “Yes.” Fuck. Me. How did he remember exactly what to say?

  He didn’t hurt me, but he wasn’t gentle. I felt the moment my inner muscles opened for him. He slid three fingers deep and fast in a rush of pleasure-pain that tore a moan from my throat. Darius moved his fingers inside me, shifting them back and forth gently, not fucking me, but teasing me, playing with me, exploring me. He pushed me to the edge of sanity until I knew I would beg him to do more. Do more. Take more. Take anything he wanted.

  His hand landed on my ass with a sharp sting and I yelped.

  “That was for leaving me, Lily. For denyi
ng your need for me. For denying my right to protect you.”

  Oh, this role-playing game was getting a little too real. “I don’t need you to protect me.”

  He leaned close, his chest covering my back, and whispered in my ear. “I know you do not need my protection, love. But it’s my right to do everything I can to keep you safe. You will not deny me again. Leave me behind. Choose another to be at your side.”

  I’d hurt him by going off with Dea instead of choosing him. I realized that now. Hurt him deeply.

  “I’m sorry.” I didn’t hide my emotions or my needs. I loved him. I was who I was and he had accepted that. “I love you. I won’t leave you behind. Ever. Please.” I needed release. Pleasure. I needed him.

  The tension in my body was so high even the soft bedding rubbing my skin was too much. Overwhelming. Almost painful.

  “You’re sorry? Aren’t you forgetting something?” He pulled his hard length free and replaced them with two fingers as his other hand landed with a sharp sting on my other cheek.

  Forgetting? God, what was I forgetting? “What?” I cried.

  He struck my bottom again, spanking me as I’d asked, as some of the heroes in my erotic novels were wont to do.

  I didn’t know if I would like it, but we were playing a game.

  And that sting on my bottom was shockingly heated. The sting spreading like fire all over my body.

  Darius rubbed my bare ass as his thumb found my clit and rubbed back and forth slowly. Too slow. I needed stimulation to have an orgasm, not this. I wiggled my hips, trying to force him to move, and his palm landed again. “Lily, when we are in our private quarters, you will call me master or sir. Do you understand?”

  Oh, shit. That was a line straight out of the book.

  How could I have forgotten? It had been my idea to play this game. We’d read the scene together. He was playing the part of a Prillon warrior, Dare. I was Hannah. We didn’t have collars on, and I had made very clear I was not ready to try anything via the backdoor, yet...but this? Pretending to be someone else?

  I felt free. Totally, completely free to say anything. Do anything. “Yes, sir.”

  Surrender. Submission. I trusted him completely, which was not just shocking but a joy I’d never expected to experience in real life.