Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  Salene understood that Rayne didn’t want to talk about the events behind the music, so she let it go. She was looking at Rayne while trying to think of another topic when something caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes, studying her sister more intently as she tried to figure out what it was. After a few moments it struck her that there was a glow of happiness in Rayne’s eyes that she’d never seen before.

  “Being linked has made you very happy,” she said, smiling. “In fact, I’ve never seen you this happy.”

  “It’s wonderful,” Rayne said, struggling to restrain her joy for her sister’s sake.

  Salene’s heat tilted. Rayne sighed. She’d never been able to hide anything important from Salene. She was the eldest sister and, while the relationship between Clan Jasani female triplets was not the same as it was for males, there were similarities. Salene’s bone deep need to watch over and protect Rayne and Tani was a good example.

  After a few moments Salene arched a brow and Rayne gave up. “All right, I’ll tell you, but…well, here goes.” She paused to take a breath, then froze when Salene’s eyes widened.

  “Oh-my-goodness-you’re-pregnant!” she shouted while pushing herself out of her chair to hug Rayne who stood up and hugged her back. “I’m so excited for you!” She stepped back so she could look into Rayne’s eyes, then she laughed. “You goof. How could you think for even a moment that your happiness would cause me pain?”

  “You’re scary sometimes, you know that?” Rayne asked with a mock scowl.

  “Yes, I know,” Salene said, returning to her chair. Rayne frowned at how pale she looked, but Salene waved a hand, dismissing it. “I’ll go take a nap in a few minutes, but I want to explain something to you first.”

  “Okay,” Rayne replied, sitting back down.

  “I love you, you know that. For that reason alone I’m over the moon happy for you. But, on top of that, I’m happy for me, too, because you’ve given me hope.”

  “Hope?”

  Salene smiled. “After all that you’ve suffered, with all that you went through, you’re still here, and you’re still you. You fell in love, you’re linked, and now you’re going to have the first of what will undoubtedly be lots and lots of happy, drooling little babies with pudgy cheeks and bubbly dispositions. You won, Rayne. They did their worst to you, and their worst was horrific, but you won. I love that. I needed to know that. I know now that if I don’t give up, I can win, too.”

  Rayne went to her knees in front of Salene’s chair, then wrapped her arms around her. They stayed that way for a long time, giving and receiving the comfort that only sisters can share with one another. Then she leaned back and looked steadily into Salene’s eyes.

  “We will get your men back, Salene,” she said. “Believe it. We won’t stop until we do.”

  “I believe you,” Salene said softly.

  “Now, go get yourself back into bed or I’ll stuff you into a healing tank myself.”

  ***

  Rayne turned her face up into the full spray of the showerhead and sighed with pleasure as the hot water cascaded over her.

  “Now there’s a sight to behold,” Landor said from the entrance to the enormous blue tiled shower. Rayne wasn’t startled because she’d felt her men enter the room a few moments earlier, and knew they were looking for her. She was already starting to get the hang of this tri-phase thing. The trick, she’d discovered, was in turning it on, getting a quick sample, then remembering to turn it off again right away. Otherwise she became overwhelmed by the incoming feelings and sensations from her men.

  She looked at Landor over her shoulder and gave him a slow smile as she let her eyes rove up and down his beautiful…and naked…body. “Care to join me?”

  “Oh, I think I can be talked into it,” he said, stepping into the shower. “Why do you have just the one shower head on?”

  “Because I wanted to shower, not drown,” she replied archly. Landor smiled, but she could tell he didn’t quite get what she meant. “These other showerheads spray water directly into my face.”

  “We’ll have to do something about that,” Con said as he and Ari joined them. Rayne took a few moments to appreciate their bodies, then frowned as a thought occurred to her. After a moment her smile returned, bigger than before.

  “What was that about?” Ari asked as he selected Rayne’s shampoo from a built in shelf and poured some into his hand.

  Rayne’s cheeks grew warm and her men watched with appreciation as the pink flush ran from her face down to her breasts, which caused her to turn an even deeper pink. Ari stepped around behind her and applied the shampoo to her hair, then began to gently massage it in. Embarrassment forgotten, Rayne’s eyes closed with pleasure and her head tilted back.

  “Come on, tell us,” Ari whispered into her ear, his cock pressing hotly against her back.

  “I was just wondering if the sight of the three of you would always make me feel the way it does now,” she said. “Or if it would fade in time.”

  “And your conclusion?”

  “I remembered my parents,” she said, smiling again. “The way my mom looks at my dads sometimes, and the way they look at her, is almost embarrassing to watch.”

  “Embarrassing?” Landor asked, lowering himself to his knees in front of Rayne with a sponge holding a dollop of her favorite body wash. Starting at her hips, he began working his way down one leg, leaving honeysuckle suds behind. “Why is it embarrassing?”

  “Because it feels I’m intruding on something personal and private. I swear they can talk to each other with their eyes. They don’t need words.”

  “One day we’ll be like that,” Con said. He’d poured some body wash into his hands, rubbed them together to work up a lather and turned to run his hands over her breasts. The suds made his hands slippery as they rubbed over her hard nipples, then wandered down to caress her belly over the place where their tiny daughters rested, then back up to her breasts. She shivered and her nipples tightened further. Then Landor ran one sudsy hand slowly along her pussy, pausing to stroke her clit with his thumb. Her knees buckled, but her men kept her from falling.

  “You’re so wet, Kisu,” Landor said, rising to his feet. “And I don’t mean from the shower.”

  “Time to rinse,” Ari said from behind her. Rayne opened eyes that she hadn’t quite realized she’d closed and started to turn, but Con lifted her up instead.

  “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he said. She immediately complied, placing her hands on his shoulders for balance. “I love the way you feel in my arms,” he said, leaning down to nuzzle her neck, his tongue leaving chills behind as it traced a path from her ear, down to her throat, and then back up to her other ear.

  “I want you,” she said, her voice deep and sultry with need. “Inside me. Please.” Con’s hips surged forward in automatic response to her desire. He released her waist with one hand and reached down to position his cock when, without warning, Rayne’s body jerked hard enough that he nearly dropped her. He looked up and saw that her pupils were dilated, her face and breasts were flushed, and she was panting softly.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I released pheromones,” Landor said tightly, angry with himself for the lapse in control. Rayne’s request for Con to be inside of her had been so hot, and so unexpected, that he’d responded involuntarily. He simply hadn’t been able to help himself.

  “So did I,” Ari admitted.

  “Please,” Rayne moaned, her head thrown back, her hips moving in search of what she’d desired a moment earlier, but now desperately needed.

  Con let go of her again, grasped his cock with one hand and positioned it at her entrance, groaning at the silky, liquid heat of her. He arched his hips, entering her, gasping at the incredible pleasure that engulfed not just his cock, but his entire body.

  Rayne pressed down eagerly, wanting all of him inside of her at once, but she was too small, and he was too large to move that quickly without causing her pain, so
mething Con would never do even if she couldn’t feel it. He held onto her hips firmly, controlling his penetration carefully.

  “Lean your head back so I can rinse your hair,” Ari said in an effort to distract her a little. At first she didn’t seem to hear him, but when he placed his hands on her shoulders and coaxed her back, she went along with it. When she was leaning back too far to keep her hold on Con’s shoulders, Landor slid his arms beneath her, supporting her weight while Ari used a hand sprayer to rinse the soap from her hair.

  Her position made it almost impossible for her to push against Con, giving him better control. He relaxed a little and began to fuck her slowly and gently, entering her a little bit further with each thrust. “She needs more,” Landor said after checking the state of her arousal and finding it almost as intense as when they did the soul link triad.

  “I’m all the way in now,” Con said with a gasp.

  “Good,” Landor said, already lifting Rayne back up so she could wrap her arms around Con’s neck. “Fuck her hard now, Con. She needs it hard and fast.”

  Con didn’t need to be told twice. He turned around, leaned Rayne’s back against the shower wall, and began thrusting hard and deep. Rayne’s legs tightened around his waist, shifting their angles just enough that his cock now stroked her clit with each pounding thrust. Seconds later Rayne threw her head back, her mouth opened wide in a silent scream as her entire body tightened, then exploded into an orgasm that sent lightening quick shocks of pleasure through her body.

  When Rayne came, her velvety soft sheath tightened around his cock like a fist, holding him fast as it rippled around him, drawing his orgasm out of him in a blinding rush so intense that for a long moment he couldn’t even breathe. When his heart started beating again he let his head fall forward just above Rayne’s as they both gasped for air while ripples of pleasure continued to race over them both.

  Before he’d caught his breath Rayne was moving restlessly against him, already in need of more. He raised his head, lifted Rayne carefully away from the wall, and handed her to Landor. “You don’t have much time,” he said. Landor nodded, then carried Rayne out of the shower with Ari behind him.

  Chapter 17

  “They’re so close,” Salene said, staring through the observation port aboard the Armadura at a small, uncharted moon. “Very close.”

  After chasing Weeble’s yacht for ten days through an area of space unfamiliar to them, Salene had announced, finally, that the Gryphons were no longer moving away from them. They’d thought Weeble meant to use the jump point near Onddo, but he’d continued on, passing Onddo without even slowing down. When Salene felt them stop, Landor immediately ordered the Armadura to a halt. Then, with Salene guiding them, they’d cautiously proceeded until spotting a small, uninhabited moon that didn’t even show up on their star maps.

  Salene was positive that the Gryphons were either still on Weeble’s yacht and orbiting the moon, on a space station orbiting the moon or, least likely, on the moon itself. When they got closer, she was able to rule the moon out altogether, which left Weeble’s yacht, or a space station. Rayne had no doubt whatsoever that a Doftle space station, hidden by Blind Sight, was orbiting the moon since there was no other reason for the yacht to stop there, and the Bearen-Hirus agreed.

  “We’re too new to speed traveling to do this without a clear destination point,” Con said. “Especially since we can’t see anything with our eyes or our sensors.”

  “We need one of the hand terminals I took from the Facility,” Rayne said. “Not the future one, though.”

  “What good will that do?” Landor asked.

  “Wolef told me that these Doftle space stations each have their own mainframes. If we get close enough for a hand terminal to connect to a mainframe, you can follow its signal to the space station, right?”

  “You’re brilliant,” Con said, grinning at her. “I’ll go get one of them.” He stepped sideways and vanished.

  “Landor…,” Rayne began, but he stopped her with a gesture of his hand.

  “You and Salene are not going alone, Rayne, so please do not suggest it,” he said. “It’s hard enough for us to know that you’re going over there at all. Please do not ask us to watch you do it alone again.”

  “I had no intention of suggesting such a thing,” she said. He arched a brow. “When I went into the Facility alone I knew that Wolef was there to help me, that I had a weapon, a key card, a hand terminal, and the ability to make myself invisible to the Doftle and all of their sensors. And let’s not forget that you couldn’t speed travel then, either. You can now, and that makes a big difference. As for my going, you already agreed that there wasn’t any way around it. Salene has to go to point the way toward the Gryphons, and you can’t make her invisible. I can.”

  “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions,” he said. “Please continue.”

  Rayne reached out and gave his arm a gentle squeeze of understanding. “I just wanted to say that the Doftle are very advanced, and very security conscious. I suspect that an off ship data request will set off some sort of alarm, and that they’ll be able to trace it right back to us. We’ll need to speed travel out of here as soon as you pick up on the signal source. If we do it fast enough, they might not notice it. Or if they do notice it, they might put it down to a glitch. But only if it’s very brief.”

  “You’re right, of course,” Landor said. “Con and I’ll pay close attention when you begin.”

  “What about Ari?”

  “Ari will remain here and keep an eye on you through your crystal in case we have to leave you at any point. When we find the Gryphons, he’ll speed travel over to us to help bring everyone back.”

  Con reappeared and handed her one of the Doftle hand terminals. She checked to make sure it wasn’t the future one, then booted it up. The first thing it did was search for the nearest mainframe, just as she’d known it would.

  “I can feel the source of that signal now,” Landor said immediately after the mainframe responded to the hand terminal’s request. “How about you guys?” Ari and Con both nodded. “Let’s go,” he said, then placed one hand on Rayne’s shoulder, stepped sideways and disappeared. Con placed one hand on Salene’s shoulder and followed, leaving Ari alone on the observation deck with his hand terminal so he could watch and listen through Rayne’s crystal.

  Rayne and Salene shuddered uncontrollably the moment the scents of the Doftles’ space station reached them, but otherwise neither of them visibly reacted. They found themselves in a sealed room lined with shiny white tiles. The only object in the room was an enormous ball made of a clear, hard substance that looked like glass, but was more likely something much more durable. Inside the ball was a constantly shifting mass of silvery liquid metal. This was the mainframe. The heart of the space station.

  Landor and Con walked all the way around it, but there were no openings, no ports, no panels, nothing that would give them access to the interior. It was far too big to move, and they couldn’t attempt to destroy it until after they found the Gryphons and escaped the space station. They returned to where they’d left the women and waited tensely for the hand terminal to finish its update.

  “Okay, it’s done,” Rayne whispered. Now familiar with the Doftle’s computer system, it took just a few moments to pull up a station floor plan. She and Salene studied it for a moment. “Which way are they?” Rayne asked.

  “Up,” Salene said, pointing to a level near the top of the space station. “About there, I think.”

  Rayne nodded, tapped the screen to mark a location, then handed it to Landor. “That room is labeled Supply Closet, but it looks awfully big. If it really is a closet, I think we should go there next.”

  “I’ll go up and check it,” he said, handing the hand terminal to Con before vanishing. Con studied the floor plan for a few moments, then returned the hand terminal to Rayne. They waited silently for Landor to return which, luckily for their nerves, was just a few moments.

  �
�It’s a really big supply closet, with three separate aisles and high shelves,” he said. “If a Doftle happens to go inside, there’s plenty of room to stay out of their way so long as you keep your shield up.”

  “Let’s go,” Rayne said. Landor placed his hand on her shoulder, and Con did the same with Salene. A couple of seconds later they all stood in the dimly lit room with floor to ceiling shelves holding thousands of linens, uniforms, and cleaning supplies. Landor led them toward the furthest aisle from the door and they huddled together in a tight circle.

  “Where next?” Rayne asked, offering Salene the hand terminal. Instead of taking it, Salene closed her eyes and reached out with her senses.

  “They’re on this level,” she said after opening her eyes a few moments later. “They’re conscious and growing increasingly distressed.”

  “They probably sense you,” Landor said. Salene nodded. She’d already thought of that, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She could sense them, and if their emotions were strong enough, she could feel that, too, but that was all. She couldn’t communicate with them, she couldn’t feel what they felt, and she couldn’t tell why they were distressed.

  “Show me,” Rayne said, holding the hand terminal out again. Salene took it, turned it so that the orientation was correct, studied the floor plan for a moment, then tapped the screen and handed it back.

  Rayne looked at the screen and bit her lip with worry. “This whole section at the opposite side of this level is labelled Tank Labs.”

  “Tanks,” Con growled softly. “It’s the only way to hold a Clan Jasani male captive without killing him that I’m aware of.”

  “Apparently, the Doftle know that,” Rayne said.

  “But, that can’t be right,” Salene said. “They’re conscious. I’m certain of it. They can’t be conscious while they’re in tanks, can they?”

  “We’ll soon find out,” Rayne said, breaking the silence that had fallen as everyone tried not to imagine being conscious in a hibernation tank. “We need to find out which one of those eight rooms they’re in.”