by S. E. Smith
“So, how long before we land?” Cara asked. “Cool, not a cloud in sight. Man, this is a little bitty place, isn’t it? Looks like the town I grew up in.”
Abby laughed in excitement. “Yes, it is small but its home.”
“Looks like you have a reason to be back. Is he cute? Does he have a brother?” Cara asked mischievously.
“Yes, he is and yes, he has four brothers.” Abby replied distractedly before she realized what she had just said.
Laughing, Cara stretched again. “Busted! Well, if they are cute point me in their direction. I’m always looking for a good time in a small town.”
Abby couldn’t help but laugh. Cara had the kind of personality that anyone couldn’t help but fall in love with. She was a ball of energy. Even sitting still she moved around.
Cara saw Abby’s amused smile and couldn’t help the rueful grin that curved her lips, “I’m a little ADHD. I couldn’t sit still if my life depended on it and only sleep about four hours a night if I’m lucky. Drives everyone nuts but I get a lot done. I have an IQ out the kazoo. Needless to say, most people and all men can’t stand being around me for more than five minutes. Oh, but I do love to drive them crazy first.”
Abby chuckled. “Well, you haven’t driven me crazy yet and I have thoroughly enjoyed your company.”
Twenty minutes later, Cara stood up stretching her arms and legs. God, she was so happy they had finally landed. Luckily, she had gotten some much needed sleep and with a little caffeine, she would be almost ready for round two – as long as it didn’t mean a return flight that night. She was going to have to think up some type of excuse to get Ariel and Trisha to postpone the return trip until at least sometime tomorrow. Cara’s mind was running through a hundred different reasons when Ariel’s voice came on to say they would be at the gate in just a few minutes. When Ariel thanked everyone for flying Hamm Air, the only airline where pigs did fly. Cara couldn’t contain the laugh that burst out. She absolutely adored those two women who could make life so much fun.
The airport was dark except for the few lights on some of the nearby hangers, the airport terminal, and the blue running lights on the runway. Cara climbed down the steps of the jet as soon as the plane had stopped. Taking a deep breath of the cool, fresh night air, Cara felt the tension began to melt from her neck and shoulders. You know, Cara berated herself silently; if you had picked a different career than being a jet mechanic you wouldn’t have to worry about flying in a tin can! What was sad is Cara really loved to fly – she just didn’t like the claustrophobia that came with it. If she could live her life flying in a bi-plane or floating in a hot-air balloon she would be in heaven.
Cara turned to watch as Ariel and Trish climbed down out of the jet followed by Abby, who had grabbed her overnight bag. Carmen hadn’t come out yet as she was talking on her cell phone to someone. Cara had a feeling she didn’t want to have to spend any more time than necessary around any of them, especially Ariel. Abby was looking between the three of them with an expression like she was trying to get her nerve up to say something but wasn’t sure how too.
“It’s really late for you to head out tonight. Would you like to stay at my place for the night? It’s a little ways up the mountain but it is really beautiful. I have an extra bedroom if you don’t mind doubling up and an oversize couch that makes a great bed.” Abby said looking nervously back and forth between the three of them.
Cara let out a sigh of relief. Yes, she thought, the perfect excuse!
“Sounds great to me!” Cara said stretching again in exaggeration. “I’d go bonkers if I had to get back in that tin can tonight. I’d love to meet your man. You said he had some brothers? Any chance of meeting them between tonight and tomorrow morning? I love meeting new guys. I’m trying to break my record of driving them off. I think the longest any have put up with me had been ten minutes.”
Trisha and Ariel laughed. “Ah Cara, I think that Danny guy lasted twelve. What do you think, Ariel?”
“Oh, at least twelve maybe even thirteen minutes.” Ariel added.
Cara laughed out loud. She knew exactly who they were talking about; her last blind date the two of them had set her up with about a week ago. They had surprised her at dinner with a Physics Professor from the local university who lived across the hall from Trisha. It turned out the surprise had been on them when the guy had started puffing on his inhaler within about two minutes of meeting her. It might have been due to her recitation of Stephen Hawking’s theory of Black Holes (in exquisite detail) and how relationships could be correlated to it. “You two are nuts. You were so drunk,” Cara suspected that had played the biggest part in their kidnapping of the poor professor more than actually trying to find her a man, “you can’t even remember his name. It was Douglas. Not, Dougie.” Cara said in a perfect imitation of Douglas’ outraged, nasally voice. Of course, she was the one who had nicknamed him Dougie knowing it would irritate the up-tight scholarly ass who had looked at her like she didn’t have two cents to rub together for a brain.
Ariel, Trish, and Abby burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, good ole Dougie.” Trish said wiping her eyes. “How could we forget?”
Trish looked at Abby and smiled, “Unlike some people we know, Ariel and I both need at least eight hours of sleep more than once a month to survive. We would love to take you up on both of your offers.”
Abby frowned, “Both of my offers?”
“Yeah, bed and brothers.” Cara, Ariel, and Trish smirked.
“I appreciate the offer but I think I’ll skip. I had transportation delivered earlier. I think I’ll head out as I slept most of the trip.” Carmen said quietly as she came up as if out of nowhere.
Cara listened as Ariel tried to talk to her sister but it was obvious to her Carmen had already made up her mind. Cara felt bad for both of them. She didn’t know Carmen that well, only what Ariel had told her; but, she did know Ariel and didn’t like to see the pain in her friend’s eyes as she watched her sister walk away.
Turning, Cara was relieved when she heard Abby say she was going to get her truck. “Sounds great.” Cara said with relief. She headed for the jet calling out over her shoulder. “It won’t take me but a minute.” Less, thought Cara, if she would manage it. God! She hated closed in spaces, she thought again, as she climbed into the jet. Grabbing her tool belt and backpack, she counted twenty-three seconds. Yup, nothing like a little claustrophobia to get her butt in gear.
“I’ll catch up with Abby and see you guys in a few minutes.” Cara said as she jumped down off the steps of the jet.
“Okay. It’ll take us about ten minutes or so to close everything up.” Trish said glancing worriedly at Ariel who was silently watching Carmen walk away into the darkness.
Cara touched Ariel’s arm gently as she walked by her in silent support. Ariel gave Cara a sad smile before she turned around and followed Trish into the jet. Cara decided she needed to give Ariel something else to think about. Maybe if the brothers Abby knew were any fun they could distract Ariel for a while. Hell, maybe if the brothers were any fun they could distract her for a while. It wasn’t as if they were going to be around long enough to fall in love with any of the guys and there wasn’t any harm in having some fun, even if it was only for a couple of hours.
Cara grinned as she hurried to catch up with Abby. The idea of maybe doing some heavy petting cheered Cara up. She might not want to go all the way with a guy, at least none of the ones she knew, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like to cuddle and kiss. The way she looked at it, it was like watching the Circuit de Monaco. You enjoy the looks and sounds, appreciate the performance, but could call it quits if you didn’t like how it was going. Yup, thought Cara, I could handle a little excitement tonight!
Chapter 3
Trelon growled under his breath as he held his bleeding knuckles out to his symbiosis. It was the second time in as many minutes that he needed to be healed. At the rate he was going he was never going to get the modifications to the eng
ines done on the crystal drive he was working on.
“Thanks, my friend.” Trelon said with a deep affection in his voice. The relationship between the Valdier warrior, his dragon, and his symbiosis was so deep one could not be separated from the others. The golden shape of a huge cat swirled with colors at the affection it heard in Trelon’s voice. Within seconds, small bands of gold separated to encase his hand in a mesh of gold metal forming a flexible glove.
Trelon laughed, “Getting tired of healing me so soon, my friend? Thank you again for your assistance.” The huge golden cat shimmered with an array of colors before settling down beside Trelon to study what he was doing.
Trelon tried to focus on the job at hand. He was working on some modifications to the engines that combined the energy from the symbiosis on board and the crystals they were using to power their vessel. So far, he had cut several days off their journey to the primitive planet his older brother, Zoran, had found refuge on. Trelon had buried his fear from his other brothers when he had first heard Zoran’s call for help. He had been afraid his new defense system had malfunctioned. The Valdier had been at peace with the Sarafin warriors for the past hundred or so years but that did not mean it would last. The peace was kept only because of a promise that the first born daughter of the King of Valdier would be given in marriage to the first born son of the King of Sarafin. Unfortunately for the Sarafin, Trelon’s father neglected to inform them that females were few and far between. In fact, no daughters had been born to the ruling family of Valdier in centuries. Trelon grimaced, if the Valdier had been truthful to the Sarafin they would have admitted that the population of females was steadily declining. Their scientists were not sure exactly why, but they believed it was due to the symbiotic relationship the males had between their symbiosis, their dragon, and their person. There had been a time of great wars between the Curizans, the Valdier, and the Sarafin. Because of the wars, more males were needed. Over time, the females began breeding more and more warriors. The problems became critical when the wars ended. The females continued to produce warriors and over time, the difference between the population of males and females reached a turning point – there were more males than females. This discrepancy in numbers finally forced the Valdier to look outside their own galaxy about three hundred years ago in a desperate search for females. Unfortunately, they encountered another problem, their symbiosis, and often times their dragon, refused to true mate with the females. While the males could enjoy sexual release and some pleasure, they never achieved the full fulfillment of a true mate – acceptance from all three parts of themselves. Only with a true mate could the dragon fire take hold and a male find total satisfaction of sexual hunger.
Trelon leaned his head back against the cold metal of the compartment he was working in and drew in a deep breath. His dragon was getting impatient for a mate. Unless he could find his true mate, the growing hunger and discomfort would continue to eat away at him from the inside out. Gritting his teeth, he tried to force his dragon to calm down. It wasn’t like there was a damn thing he could do about it. Out of all the women he had been with over the years not a damn one could satisfy all three parts of him. Hell, he was lucky he had ever gotten laid. He dragon really didn’t care so much what the female was like if he was in the mood for a good fuck, it would tolerate the female long enough to scratch the itch but it wouldn’t bite one of them no matter how much he tried to trick it into doing so. Then there was his symbiosis. He and his dragon had to practically beg it not to kill the females he had bedded. The only way he had been able to get any relief had been to demand it stay across the room from him. There had been a time or two when he had even had to send it off to play in the forest if it really didn’t like the female. He didn’t know what he was going to do if he didn’t find a woman soon. Perhaps he should take N’tasha up on her offer. Even though his symbiosis couldn’t stand her, his dragon was tolerant enough to let him bed her a few times a week. It was better than nothing even though the likelihood of their mating producing a child was very small, Trelon thought with a sigh of regret.
Cara hurried across the tarmac and squeezed through the gate she had seen Abby going through. She could feel her energy level escalating as she moved. A few hours sleep, the cool night air, being out of the plane, and the thought of having fun had her adrenaline pumping. She wanted to catch up with Abby so she could drill her about the brothers and see if there was a chance to cheer Ariel up a little. Cara frowned when she saw someone coming up behind Abby out of the shadows. The guy kept his face turned so she couldn’t really make out his features. A sense of unease ran down her spine. She hoped Abby knew the guy because she was definitely getting bad vibes off the way he was moving up behind her without calling out a greeting. Cara decided she better call out a warning when she noticed Abby jerk in surprise.
“Hey Abby! You okay?” Cara asked as she moved towards the truck. “Ariel and Trisha are on their way. It didn’t take…” Cara’s words died off as she saw Abby crumble against the man.
The man’s head jerked up when he heard Cara call out. Pulling a gun from behind him he aimed it at Cara pulling the trigger. Cara dropped her backpack and tool belt and was already hitting the pavement when a soft pop went off barely missing her. Within moments the man had picked Abby up and slung her over his shoulder letting off another round of gunfire as he moved. Cara rolled towards a golf cart parked nearby and hid behind the small front wheels for once glad that she was so small. Cara was breathing hard through her nose quickly thinking through one strategy after another when she felt a hand on her arm causing her to let out a small scream.
“Shush. It’s me, Carmen.” Carmen said kneeling next to Cara. She looked up when she saw Ariel and Trisha running towards them.
“Shit, what happened?” Trisha said breathing out a sigh of relief when she saw Cara turn and sit up. Before Cara could say anything, Carmen spoke up in a low voice.
“Some asshole waylaid Abby. From the little I was able to gather he isn’t too happy she didn’t choose him instead of this Zoran guy. He stuck her with something and has her cuffed. I’m going to follow him. Keep your line open, I might need some backup.” Carmen said before running towards a motorcycle hidden in the dark between two hangers.
“We need wheels.” Ariel muttered darkly watching as a truck peeled out from the airport. Carmen didn’t bother turning on the lights on her bike. She pulled the fast but quiet Yamaha YAF-R1 motorcycle after it popping up onto one wheel when she floored it.
“On it.” Cara said shakily moving towards Abby’s truck. Within seconds she had the engine running. Cara couldn’t help but wish she could tell her Uncle Wilfred that hot-wiring cars in her early teens had done her some good in life. She remembered when she was twelve and had taken the sheriff’s car for a spin. She had been pissed at the Sheriff for some reason she couldn’t even remember now. She had left it parked outside of old Widow Miller’s house. How was she supposed to know that he had been having an affair with Widow Miller and his wife would try to shoot him? She had only been twelve, for crying out loud! Of course, after that little incident everyone in town knew about Widow Miller and the Sheriff. Needless to say, the Sheriff didn’t get re-elected that fall. When her Uncle Wilfred found out what had happened, he had given her the third degree and made her work in the Sheriff’s garage after school for the remainder of the school year under the new Sheriff.
Cara was grinning like a fool when Ariel and Trisha jumped in the front seat and looked at her funny. She couldn’t help the silly grin on her face, “I used to have a problem with taking vehicles for a spin.”
Cara slid the truck into gear as soon as the two women had buckled up and tore off after Carmen and the truck. “Call Carmen, ask her which direction.”
Cara listened with one ear on the conversation between Ariel and Carmen and with the other ear on the revving of the truck’s engine trying to get a feel for how much power she could get out of it. It was important to know the vehicle you we
re driving, especially if you were going to be driving at a high rate of speed on unknown roads. She didn’t want to take a chance of taking a curve too fast or having the engine seize on her in the middle of a turn.
“Should we call the local authorities?” Cara asked as she turned the wheel sharply, punching the gas pedal as far as it would go. “Damn, I need to work on her truck. The acceleration on this thing sucks.” Cara wondered distractedly if Abby ever drove the poor thing over the speed limit. It was acting more like a granny-mobile than a pickup truck!
Trisha rolled her eyes. “Only you would be thinking about something like that while chasing down bad guys in the middle of nowhere.”
“Hey, I can work on more than one thing at a time.” Cara said as she took another turn sliding the truck around and fishtailing a little. Oops, turn, turn, turn, straighten, don’t over-correct – that’s good. Cara thoughts were all over the place as the adrenalin began pumping through her in high gear. Tires are a little bald on the back, transmission could use a tune up, and she thought she heard one of the cylinders miss slightly. She could work with that. Maybe if the brothers were really cute she could talk Ariel and Trish into staying an extra couple of days. It wasn’t like the Boswell’s were in a hurry to get their jet back since it was still in production and that would give her time to work on Abby’s truck. Of course, Cara inserted into her running commentary to herself, we have to get Abby back first and kick some bad guy butt. Cara felt confident that shouldn’t take too long between the four, five if you counted Abby, women. Hell, Cara thought with a rueful grin, knowing what she did about Carmen, there might not even be anything left for them to kick!
