Nightfall

by Elizabeth Hartwell

  “Hey!” Lance whispers, covering his balls. “Why am I the one who . . . never mind.”

  I smile a little, letting Tym do a masterful job of distraction while making his point. It took me a long time to see his sense of humor, and maybe he hid it from himself for a long time. But he’s got one, and it’s perfectly used right now.

  “So our best idea is to keep drawing this out,” Tym continues. “Whether we backtrack, or go into the mountains, we have to let time whittle down our enemies. Eventually, Bane will bring out his vampires, and I doubt they will get along with the werewolves regardless of their shared heritage. And these zombies are brainless, even if they are being herded as I suspect. But we must keep going.”

  “Remember, Loki told me that the other gods on his side are sending help,” Lance adds. “He didn’t say who or what, I suspect because he isn’t quite sure yet. But we know Tyr’s on his side.”

  Anton nods, glancing over at Tym. “I hope you’re the runt of his litter.”

  Tym smirks, his still unfamiliar blue eyes twinkling in the afternoon light. “I’ve heard I am, but I do not know. For now, though . . . Cerena, which path? Up the mountain or backtrack?”

  I think about it, knowing this is one of those vital decisions that can have a direct effect on whether we live to see tomorrow or if we die painfully . . . or if possibly the entire world is overtaken by the forces of darkness.

  Fuck. I sound like a bad holovid.

  “Up the mountain,” I reply firmly. “Tym, I want you in the lead. Lance, with the Whites to help Sienna and her mother. Brandon, you’re rear security with me. Move.”

  It’s not as dramatic as it sounds, the seven of us moving out. Tym simply adjusts the pack and starts walking up the hill, using one of his hammers as an ad hoc climbing stick to help him with his grip as he cuts up at an angle. He’s making sure the path is okay for Sienna and Mrs. White, who still looks the most freaked out of any of us.

  I let them get about thirty yards from Brandon and me before I pull him aside. “You understand my decision?”

  Brandon clenches his jaw but nods. “If he won’t take his daughter back, then there’s no way we’d be able to drag the entire family back that way and around. Still . . . I hate this running. And the werewolves are going to close the distance fast with us now that we’re going uphill into the cold.”

  “I understand.”

  Brandon gives my hand a pat, then looks up the slope toward the Whites, where Anton’s helping his wife. “She’s slowing us down. Even more than the mountain will.”

  I follow his gaze, nodding. I’d had so much hope for Sophia White. We share a connection, just like Sienna and I do, and at first, she showed it. I was sure that Sulis’s influence would let her be the rock that her daughter could depend on.

  But the werewolf attack seemed to shake her more than she’s let on. And the further away we’ve gotten from the White farm, the more and more she’s retreated into herself. She’s barely spoken to me in the past day. In fact, she barely speaks to anyone other than Sienna unless she’s spoken to.

  Going up the mountain, she’s going to become the pace setter. Not in terms of pushing the pace, but slowing us down. Already, each step seems to take her just a blink longer than it does everyone else, and more than once, whoever’s been doing rear security has had to come to a complete stop to let her proceed enough on the trail to maintain proper overwatch security intervals.

  I don’t know how much longer this situation can continue. Brandon, obviously, thinks the same thing. “What do you suggest?”

  “Not sure,” Brandon admits. “Part of me wants to say we trim the dead weight. If she can’t keep up, she needs to be left behind. But—”

  “But that’s the way Bane would do things,” I finish for him. “It’s the same way the Hunters did things too. But I want us to be different . . . to be better.”

  “Fine sentiments,” Brandon replies, adjusting his pack straps. “Let’s hope we can keep them.”

  He starts off, and I watch him for a moment before following him. He didn’t say it, but I understand what he’s saying. I might have promised her parents one thing, and it’s a promise I want to keep. But if it comes down to my ideals or protecting Sienna from Bane, things are going to get difficult.

  And it’ll be even more difficult if I have to face the unthinkable. If it comes down to the life of Sienna White or the future of the planet . . .

  That’s not a choice I’m ready to ponder.

  Chapter 28

  Tym

  The night air is cold, our breath pluming over us as we set up our meager campsite. Despite finding a small copse of trees that cut the wind to just a whisper, we’re unprepared for this.

  The problem, of course, is that we didn’t pack for this sort of camping. When we fled Solace with Cerena, we headed into mountains that were much shallower than this. Even then, we didn’t try to go over the tops of the peaks as much as through the passes, staying under the snowline and in the trees, both for concealment and to buffer the weather.

  But this mountain range doesn’t have those advantages. Instead, the trees have thinned as we’ve climbed higher and higher. Each step has been labored, and the air’s become thin as we’ve searched for the saddle between peaks to get away from the zombie army below us.

  At least we can’t smell them any longer.

  Sienna and Sophia White shiver in the cold, while Anton sets up their packs to try and provide some more wind cover.

  “Anton, go ahead and get more layers of clothes out for everyone,” Cerena says, looking around the campsite. She’s trying to keep us distracted by doing work, figuring that the more we do, the less we’ll think about the miserable conditions. “Sienna, I want you to clear this area of rocks and twigs. Sophia, break out the rations, heaviest stuff first. I don’t want to be hauling jars tomorrow if we don’t have to. Don’t lay anything out for sleeping until we get back. Tym, Brandon, you’re with me to get wood and ground cover. Tym, bring the hatchet. Lance . . . find dinner.”

  Lance tosses off a quick salute before pulling his knives and disappearing into the shadows of twilight. Even when he’s not using his abilities, he’s a remarkable sneak, and if there are any animals in this area, he’ll find them for us. Hopefully, he doesn’t come back with squirrels or something like that to roast for dinner.

  Once we’re out of earshot of the family, she pulls Brandon and me aside. “What’s your view?”

  “They’re hurting,” I answer simply. “Anton the least, but they’re not prepared for this. They’re not travelers.”

  “Agreed,” Brandon says, looking back over his shoulder. “Coming into the mountains was a bad idea. Mrs. White’s got a day, maybe a day and a half, before she breaks mentally.”

  “Tym, can you lead us over a pass before then?” Cerena asks. “Because I agree with both of those assessments. I can talk to Sophia, but I’m not sure how much that’ll do.”

  “I can try . . . or maybe we just need to head down the mountain,” I answer honestly. “I’ve never been up in these mountains, and I don’t have a map. We could be far enough past the zombie army that we can get to lower elevation, find a ghost town, and hole up for a day or two. Let her rest, recover mentally.”

  “If we can find a ghost town . . . or if the zombies haven’t moved,” Brandon adds. “Can’t you feel it?”

  Cerena nods, mirroring my own frustrations. Ever since heading up into the mountains, I’ve been feeling the impending creep of a sense of doom over everything we do.

  It’s nothing I can put my finger on, which makes it all the more infuriating. The walk up the mountain hasn’t threatened us with anything other than rough terrain that had us slowly picking out our trail the entire time.

  I did my best to make sure that we didn’t exhaust the Whites. In fact, only once was the ascent so rough that Sienna and Mrs. White needed help, and we were able to cover quite a few miles. But the constant off-balance walking, with one foot a
few inches lower than the other as we switched back and forth, or fighting the small slips that happened almost every minute, is tiring.

  Even my calves are aching after six grueling hours on the mountain, and I think it shows. But more than that is just the feeling that no matter what we do, we’re just prolonging the inevitable.

  If it’s not the zombies, it’s going to be the werewolves.

  If we escape the werewolves, it’ll be the Hunters.

  If we escape the Hunters, it’ll be something else.

  Cerena sighs and shakes her long black hair to clear her head. “It was a piece of advice from Lily,” she says quietly, looking up at the remarkably fading twilight. Already, the stars are out, and we’ve got maybe a half hour of light left before it’s totally black out. “The past I can’t change, and tomorrow I have no control over. What I do have control over is the next five minutes, and if I focus on those five minutes, I can do something.”

  “Wise words.”

  “Okay . . . Tym, start cutting branches with lots of needles, things we can spread out on the ground as best we can,” she says, kneeling and starting to pick up dry sticks to make a fire. “Brandon, I want us to make a bigger fire than normal. Maybe it’ll give—”

  I’m shocked when Brandon suddenly pushes her the rest of the way to the ground, crushing her lips in a fierce kiss before either of us can say anything. His mouth is ravenous, and when he finally lets Cerena breathe, she’s gasping in shock. “What are you—”

  “We’re with you . . . no matter what,” Brandon says intensely. “And you need some warmth as much as that family does. Don’t worry . . . they’ll get their fire. After you get yours. Right, big man?”

  “Right,” I rumble, pulling my shirt off before joining Brandon and Cerena on the forest floor. We sandwich Cerena between us, Brandon and me working together to strip her naked, pressing her lush body between us. Cerena’s breasts mash against my chest, and she looks up at me with trembling need and desire in her eyes.

  “You are the reason we are here,” I murmur as Brandon covers her neck and back in kisses, nibbling his way down her spine. “You are the glue that bonds us. You are the leader of this group. And we will do everything we can to support you, to fight for you, and to protect you.”

  “And to warm you up,” Brandon says as he reaches the curve of Cerena’s ass. He pushes, and I understand, rolling onto my back with Cerena on top as he buries his tongue between her cheeks, his hand pulling the twin globes apart.

  I watch as her eyes fly open, her mouth trembling as Brandon does things that I can’t exactly see but I can guess at. She moans, crushing my lips in a hot kiss as her hands squeeze my chest muscles, her nipples rubbing over the hard slabs of flesh beneath her.

  “You two . . . oh, god, Brandon, yes!”

  I reach up, pinching Cerena’s nipple and making her stare into my eyes as we kiss again, my cock throbbing in my pants as Cerena pushes herself into Brandon’s wanton tongue.

  Caught between two lovers who are a hundred percent dedicated to her pleasure, her nerves are on fire. With every touch of our fingers on her skin, we write the poetry of our bond with her. As our lips savor her flavor, whether from behind or from her mouth, we claim her as ours and tell her that we are hers.

  Cerena shudders, her body shaking as emotion and pleasure crash together, and she looks down at me, her eyes swimming with desire. I raise my head, grabbing her by the neck and crushing her lips with another hard kiss as she grinds her ass back into Brandon’s face. Her hands slide down my body, over the ridges of my abs to my pants, where she undoes the clasp before fishing out my pulsing cock.

  “Is that what you want?” I ask, and Cerena nods, shivering as Brandon’s tongue licks her again. “What do you say, Brandon?”

  “All yours, big man,” Brandon’s muffled voice says from down by my knees. “She deserves to be stuffed full.”

  Cerena sits up, humming happily as she reaches down, taking my cock in hand and rubbing the head between her sopping wet lips. “Silly Brandon . . . I want a mouthful of cream, too. Think you can help?”

  Brandon gets to his feet, grinning as he shucks his pants and takes out his own cock, his mouth and lips glistening with Cerena’s juices. She takes him in her hand, pumping him as she slips her pussy lips back and forth over the head of my cock, smiling lustfully.

  “Two sexy men . . . two perfect cocks,” she hums, leaning forward to lick the tip of Brandon’s cock as she seats me at her entrance. “How can I be anything but happy with what I have?”

  “Just focus on the next five minutes,” Brandon says, running his fingers through her hair, giving us both a perfect view as she swallows him. At the same time, she sinks down onto me, her pussy stretching over my cock as I fill her.

  It’s erotic, watching Brandon’s cock disappear between Cerena’s luscious lips as she sucks his cock in time to her riding my cock. I hold perfectly still, drinking her in with my eyes as she controls us both, her hips rising and falling on my cock as she bobs back and forth over Brandon’s cock, swallowing him again and again.

  I look up at Brandon and see him turn his eyes to me, a smirk twitching on one side of his face, and I know what he’s thinking. I nod and grab Cerena’s hips at the same time Brandon’s fist tightens in her hair.

  She’s our leader . . . but we take charge, my arms holding her hips still as I thrust up into her tight body hard and fast, my hips slapping upward into her as Brandon starts fucking her face, pumping his cock in and out of her mouth.

  Cerena gasps at first, surprised, but a moment later, she moans around his cock as she gives in to us and lets the two of us do as we will to her.

  “That’s it,” I tell her as my cock stretches and fills her pussy. “Reach up, Cerena. Play with your tits for us. Show us how you like your nipples pinched and pulled.”

  She squeals around a mouthful of Brandon’s cock but obeys me, pushing her breasts together and rubbing her nipples against each other before pinching and twisting them. She can’t move up and down, but still, her pussy starts pulsing around my cock in little flutters that have me trembling on edge.

  Brandon shudders, his neck cording as he buries his cock balls-deep in her throat and cries out. “Cerena, I’m—”

  With sudden force, she pulls back, her mouth open and her eyes twinkling naughtily as he explodes, the first two spurts landing in her open mouth before she lets the others land on her cheeks and chin. Licking her lips, she slurps Brandon’s cock and swallows before looking down on me, grinning.

  The woman’s been in control the whole time. I smile, pulling her down and turning her over, pinning Cerena to the forest floor, hammering her pussy with my throbbing cock until she tightens around me, her cries swallowed by my passionate kiss. We fall apart together, my body cresting in a wave of pleasure. Cerena moans my name into my mouth as I fill her, tears trickling from our eyes at the strength and explosiveness of what we’re feeling.

  When it’s over, I hold her, rolling to the side again and embracing her tenderly before helping her up. “You two,” she says as Brandon brushes the dirt off her back, paying particularly pleasant attention to the mud-streaked globes of her ass, “are amazing.”

  “So . . . we helped warm you up?” Brandon asks with a smirk, smacking her ass once before handing Cerena her pants. “Nice and toasty?”

  “Very,” she replies, grinning. “Any time I need some warmth, I’ll remember . . . just rub two sticks together to make fire.”

  Chapter 29

  Lance

  After dinner, I take the water bottles and go to refill them since I passed a small stream right before I found the quail nest. The two birds, along with their four eggs, provided a decent dinner for the seven of us, but now it’s time to get rest and I want to get the water ready for tomorrow.

  It’s going to easily drop below freezing tonight, but I don’t mind the chill. It reminds me of growing up after my mother left. Homeless, with no money or possessions and few s
kills other than pickpocketing, I spent quite a few winter nights huddled in some unheated hovel with nothing more than a few rags to help keep me warm.

  Compared to that, tonight’s little woodland campsite, complete with a warm fire and pine bough beds, is a luxury.

  A twig snaps behind me, and I chuckle, capping the second bottle. “You know, Cerena, you don’t need to do that. You can just call out to me.”

  “Figured you’d like the quiet approach more,” Cerena says, kneeling down and picking up one of the empty bottles. She starts to fill it, holding the bottle by just the cap to prevent her hands from getting into the icy water. “Hey, earlier—”

  “Oh, I know what happened earlier,” I tease her, smiling. “Just because you told me to go find dinner didn’t mean I wasn’t keeping an eye on you guys. Or an ear out.”

  Cerena pales slightly and then chuckles. “Why didn’t you join in? You know you’re thrilling and satisfying in your own right.”

  Lance shrugs. “Figured you had what you needed at the time. What you really needed later was a good solid dinner, and besides . . . maybe I’m greedy.”

  “Greedy?” Cerena asks, and I nod.

  “Cerena, I’ve become used to the fact that Tym and Brandon provide something for you that I don’t. I don’t hate them for it. I don’t feel bad about it. And there are times, I’m sure, that you will need all three of us. Hell, that was actually kind of kinky fun that night all three of us got together, and the mind-sharing thing . . . whoa.”

  “Whoa is right,” Cerena admits. “Imagine how I felt. You guys each felt and experienced sex with me. I was feeling all three of you at once. It was like a triple orgasm.”

  “Hmm, sounds interesting.”

  “If we can, I’ll let you feel it sometime. I’m surprised I walked for the next week,” Cerena says. “But, Lance—”

  “Hold up,” I whisper, capping a water bottle and starting on the next. “I didn’t get to finish. What I was saying was, I’m greedy. When I’m with you, I want to be the only man with you. I want to be your entire focus in that moment. When I’m between your legs or you’re holding me down . . . Cerena, you make me feel like the most important man in the world. You make me feel like nobody has ever made me feel before. For those moments, I’m the only thing that matters in your eyes, and I love it. You make me feel greater, more powerful, more valuable than I’ve ever felt before. And it’s hard to share you with Tym and Brandon, knowing how they are.”