“It’s not exactly punishment when you like it.”
“I fucked him on your desk at the clinic.”
Tan’s eyes narrowed. “On my desk?”
“Yes. Because I knew you wouldn’t like it, and I was missing our special kind of fun.”
Tan held the vibrator under her nose, then licked the length of it. Without a word, she pointed to the log and the woman scrambled to drape herself over it, bare ass displayed to receive her punishment.
Kyle was sure Tan had forgotten her, but she looked up and they locked gazes as Tan slowly removed her belt. She doubled it and jerked it taut to make a loud popping sound. Kyle flinched and the woman whimpered. Tan smiled and turned her attention back to the woman. “Didn’t I tell you to leave that boy alone?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t listen, did you?”
“No.”
“How many?”
“Ten. No. Twelve.”
“Count them.” Tan picked up the discarded panties and stuffed them into the woman’s mouth. The belt sang through the air to slap against the woman’s fleshy buttocks, but the panties muffled the woman’s cry of “one.”
Kyle shifted on her branch, uncomfortably aroused. She’d never witnessed anything like this. She should scramble down the tree and intercede, but the woman obviously desired what Tan was doing. Sweat tricked down her back and her crotch grew damp.
Six more lashes and Tan paused to run her hand over the reddened ass. She looked up at Kyle and held her gaze as she dipped her hand between the woman’s legs. When Tan withdrew, her fingers glistened with the woman’s juices, and she stared at Kyle as she licked them clean.
Then, as suddenly as she’d stopped, she delivered five hard, quick blows with the belt before shoving the thick vibrator into the woman and pumping into her.
When the woman began to tremble and her muffled voice grew shrill, Tan stopped and threw the vibrator on the ground.
The woman yanked the panties from her mouth. “No. Don’t stop.”
“Did I say you could come?”
“Please, please let me.”
Tan pushed her hand where the vibrator had been and began to thrust again. “I want you to take it all.”
The woman closed her eyes. “Yes. I can do it.”
Tan probed, slapping the reddened butt a few times, and then her hand seemed to disappear to halfway up her forearm. The woman grunted each time Tan pumped into her, grabbing her own nipples and pinching hard.
“I’m going to come. Tell me I can, please.”
“Put those panties back in your mouth. I don’t want half the camp to come running when you scream. Then come while my hand is inside, while I’m fucking you.”
The woman stuffed the panties in her mouth and screwed her face up as she pinched her nipples while Tan pumped. A few more slaps to her tortured cheeks and she screamed out her climax.
Kyle released a ragged breath. Stars. She wanted to put her hand in her pants and relieve the throb in her crotch. No. If she was truthful, she really wanted to swing down out of that tree and have a good jump with the judge and jury in camo paint and fatigues.
But Tan withdrew from the woman and stepped back.
“Give me a minute to recover, baby, and I’ll suck you off.”
Tan picked up the woman’s pants and used them to wipe off her arm. “No. I have to go.”
“I know you gotta need—” When the woman slid off the downed tree and turned, Tan was already gone. She shrugged. “Or not.” She rubbed her inflamed bottom. “If she had a real penis, I’d have to bond with her.” She stared toward the trail. “But then, she’s not the bonding type, I guess. Maybe I’ll just have to find a man who can give me the treatment she does.” She gathered her things slowly, hissing when she pulled on her pants, then smiling. “Won’t be sitting down for supper tonight.” She laughed as she made her way back to the trail.
Chapter Six
Tan was hidden in a lair of limbs and brambles, sweat beading along her forehead and upper lip, trickling into her ear and down her neck even as the late-afternoon temperatures cooled. The scant hour she’d slept was tortured with images of Anya’s punishment, Jael’s disappointment when she realized Tan had darted her, and Kyle’s brilliant blue eyes watching as she made use of the camp masochist. She woke mired in shame so deep she would have drowned if the persistent breeding fever hadn’t redirected her focus.
She’d felt Phyrrhos’ need, her need building, like the ticking of a clock, the kind from a past life where a pendulum swung back and forth, advancing the second hand with each completed arc. She could hear Phyrrhos calling for Specter and imagined her already pacing the paddock. Kyle the Blaze and Toni the Pony would have a tough time trying to corner her to get her into that cave prison. She bared her teeth at the thought. Maybe she wouldn’t have to intervene. She could just watch Phyrrhos dodge them until dark descended and she transformed to fly off with Specter.
Tan shifted her screen of foliage to slide from under it. Dusk was imminent. She drained her last bottle of water. Her body temperature was rising beyond her control. Her T-shirt was dirty and soaked with her sweat. Even so, her clothes were starting to smell faintly scorched. She had no idea what would happen to her when Phyrrhos bred. She’d never been through a breeding with a bonded before. But she was more afraid she would spontaneously combust if Phyrrhos didn’t breed soon.
❖
Kyle emerged from her second shower of the day. Her body was cleaner but her mind no clearer. Even two orgasms couldn’t dim the erotic images of what she’d seen in the woods. Toni burst into the room, and Kyle turned and glared at her.
“Don’t you know how to knock when a door is closed?” Still being nude from her shower wasn’t an issue, but she was half a second away from flopping on her bed and going for a third orgasm. That would have been embarrassing.
Toni looked surprised. “Why would I knock on the door to my own room?”
“What if I wasn’t alone?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Kyle regretted her outburst. Toni was younger, but Kyle didn’t know how much younger and had no idea if she was sexually experienced. The deep red flushing Toni’s face seemed to indicate she wasn’t. “Forget it.” She rubbed her face, then reached for her clothes to dress. “I just flashed back for a minute on my younger brother barging into my room. He used to do that all the time.”
“Oh.” Toni stood in the doorway as though she’d forgotten why she was there. “Does your family live near here?”
Kyle fastened her fatigue pants and pulled a black T-shirt over her head. “I don’t know exactly where my mother is. Maybe still Third Continent, Region Five, where we lived. But I doubt it.” She sat on the bed to put on her socks and boots. “She’s probably trying to track down my father because he’s taken my younger sister away.”
“He didn’t take your brother, too?”
“My brother is dead.”
Silence hung between them. Then Toni spoke, her voice soft. “I’m sorry, Kyle.”
Kyle shrugged. “I’m trying to track down my father, too.”
“To find your sister and mother?”
“Yes, but for another reason.” She raised her eyes to Toni’s. “My father is Cyrus, the leader of The Natural Order, and I’m here to help stop him.”
“I knew they didn’t want us to tell that you came from the cult, but, stars, I didn’t know their leader was your father.”
“Now you know why they won’t bunk me with the other warrior trainees.”
“You’re not missing anything but a lot of strutting and bragging.” Toni’s tone was bitter. “I was glad to get out of there.”
Dressed now, Kyle stood. She didn’t know where she was going, but she couldn’t sit still. Toni still blocked the doorway. “You coming or going?”
“Oh, yeah. Alyssa sent me to get you. We’re supposed to go to headquarters for an early dinner.”
“How come?” Did they know Tan was here? She should
tell them, but something held her back.
“Diego is headed back from San Pedro Sula, and Second’s cooking early in case Jael wants to hold a strategy session when he arrives. You missed lunch anyway. You’ve gotta be hungry.”
Kyle rubbed her stomach. The ache inside was growing. Maybe food would help. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
❖
Second slid two platters of food on the table. “Where’s Jael? Has anybody seen her today?”
Kyle shook her head and took the basket of bread from Alyssa and set it on the table. “Not since early this morning.”
“She hasn’t been by the clinic today,” Alyssa said. She walked over to the door of Jael’s office and looked in. “She isn’t in here.” She cocked her head. “She’s not far. I can feel her.”
Kyle wondered if that was because they were bonded or because Alyssa was an empath. Had she climbed that tree because she unconsciously felt Tan already among the same branches? Images of the forest encounter flashed through her, and her core temperature surged.
Alyssa sighed. “She’s been shielding really tight lately to try to block out Specter. I miss our mental conversations.”
“I couldn’t find her to tell her Diego was coming, but I didn’t worry about it,” Second said. “She always seems to know what’s going on all the time anyway. She’ll show up.”
Had Jael discovered Tan? Kyle clenched her jaw at the thought. Sweat trickled down it, and she shrugged to wipe it onto the shoulder of her T-shirt. Second glanced at her, her brow furrowed.
“Check upstairs,” Second said to Alyssa. “Maybe she decided to take another shower.” She gestured to the rest of them. “Sit. Eat before it gets cold.”
There were still empty seats, even though Uri, Nicole, Kyle, and Toni had joined the headquarters group. The other Guards were camping on the next mountain, keeping their dragon horses clear of Phyrrhos and Specter as they flew out at night to gather intel on The Natural Order. Diego was traveling into camp by transport to report their findings. Vid conferencing was too risky.
The food looked good, but the knot in Kyle’s stomach wouldn’t make room for it. She shoved it around her plate, arguing with herself about revealing what she knew. She had pledged her life and her service to Jael and The Collective. Was she betraying that vow? Tan was part of The Collective. Logically, she should tell. But something deeper told her keeping this secret, protecting Tan, was meant to be. She felt Toni watching her, so she speared a large piece of meat and shoved it in her mouth.
“Second!” Alyssa stood at the top of the stairs, her alarm flooding the room. “She’s still here. I can’t wake her up.”
Second bounded up the stairs three at a time. Nicole hesitated, then put her fork down and slid her chair back. “She might need some help.”
Uri shoved another forkful into his mouth and followed, too, leaving only Toni and Kyle at the table. They looked at each other, then scrambled after the others.
This was bad. Kyle slipped down the hallway, checking the rooms on either side. A few muddy footprints below the window in the shower room confirmed Tan had been here, but Kyle saw no sign of her now. She rejoined the others, and only a quick glance from Toni gave any indication she’d been missed.
“Roll her over on her back,” Second said calmly, directing Nicole to the other side of the bed to assist.
Alyssa stood at Jael’s head, her hands fluttering over Jael’s cheeks. “Jael, baby. Wake up.” She stroked her hair, bent to kiss her forehead. Jael stirred but didn’t wake.
Nicole pressed her fingers to Jael’s throat, and Second gently pried Jael’s eyelids open.
“Her pupils are dilated but equal,” Second said.
“Her pulse is strong and regular,” Nicole added. “She just seems to be in a deep sleep.” She looked at Alyssa, her eyes full of concern. “I do sense some sort of tension, like she’s fighting to wake up and can’t. Can’t you feel it?”
Alyssa glared at Second. “What did you drug her with?”
Second straightened. “Just a mild herb. She’s had it plenty of times when we were younger. It never hurt her before. Unless—” Second turned to the doorway where Uri, Kyle, and Toni stood watching. “Kyle. Go to the prep and see how many of my special cakes are still in the pan. The ones like I gave you this morning. I left them in the cold storage.”
Kyle hurried down the stairs and opened the cold storage. The pan of cake was cut into twenty-four neat squares. Six were missing. Second had given her three, and she was fine. She must have also given Jael only three. Tan was a physician. She must have surprised Jael and injected her with a knockout drug. Even caught up in a breeding fever, Tan wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jael. Kyle opened drawers until she found a box of food bags. She quickly scooped half the pan of cakes into one of the bags, stowed it in the backpack she carried everywhere, and hurried back upstairs. She ducked into the large room sectioned into cubicles that were labeled with names. Tan. The bunk was neat, and a large, low trunk was stowed underneath. She slid it out and lifted the lid. A stack of T-shirts covered the box that held everything she needed. She didn’t have a complete plan yet, but one was beginning to form.
❖
“No. I just can’t believe Jael would go downstairs and eat half a pan of your special cakes. She hates any kind of medication.”
“You didn’t grow up with her like I did. She wasn’t always so rigid about rules.” Second stared at the pan Kyle held and shrugged. “But I have to admit, this surprises me. I guess none of us anticipated this situation.”
Alyssa frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the only other time Specter ever bred, it was brief, and not with another dragon horse of The Guard. Jael rode it out with, uh—”
“With Tan?”
Uri cleared his throat. “I’ll wait downstairs.”
“Me, too,” Toni muttered, trailing after him.
Second glanced over at Kyle and Nicole, who made no move to leave, then turned to Alyssa and nodded. “It was purely a physical release and only lasted a night. It got kind of rough and frantic, though. She knew Tan could handle it.” She took Alyssa’s hand in hers. “But this time, she is bonded to you. Maybe she could feel Phyrrhos’ fever and Specter’s need to answer peaking tonight, so she decided to knock herself out to spare you. If she sleeps until morning, maybe everything will be back to normal.”
Alyssa’s eyes filled with tears. “She didn’t have to.”
Nicole put a hand on her shoulder in support.
“I know,” Second said. “But she’s so afraid of hurting you.”
Jael moaned, and Alyssa laid her hand along her cheek. “She’s burning up. She shouldn’t be this hot, should she?”
Second and Alyssa turned to Kyle, and she shifted uncomfortably under their scrutiny, suddenly aware that sweat beaded on her brow in a near mirror image of Jael’s. Did they realize she was somehow caught up in this crazy circle of breeding frenzy?
Second straightened. “Nicole, get some cooling packs from the clinic to lower her temp.” With Jael incapacitated, Second was in command. “Alyssa, until she returns, you need to project anything you can to make her cool herself down. Think of glaciers, rolling in snow, swimming in ice water…anything.” She grabbed Kyle by the arm and pulled her toward the door. “Kyle and I need to talk with Diego. Then I’ll be right back.”
Alyssa only nodded, her eyes on Jael’s face as she murmured words into Jael’s ear too low for Kyle to decipher.
Second released her grip on Kyle’s arm as they descended the stairs. Only Toni and Uri sat at the table. “Diego isn’t here yet?” She walked to the door without waiting for an answer. “He should have been here an hour ago.”
“I can check the equipment barn for some news about his transport. Maybe he had mechanical problems,” Uri said.
“Yes. Do that. He would have contacted the dispatcher there since Jael wasn’t awake to respond to a mental message.” Second watched him leave, then turned to Kyle
. “I don’t like this. You and Toni go secure Phyrrhos now.”
Kyle swayed. The room swam around her. Her insides burned. She reached for something to anchor herself, and Toni’s shoulder slid under her hand, solid and strong.
“Sure you didn’t eat a few more of those special cakes?” Toni’s tease was tinged with worry.
“She wants fire rocks.”
“Who wants fire rocks?”
“Phyrrhos. She wants fire rocks.”
Her focus returned as Second and Toni shared a look Kyle didn’t have time to decode. Phyrrhos was calling her. Or was someone else?
The fire rocks were stored in a metal shed away from any other structures because of their flammable nature, and the shed was in the opposite direction of the stone stable. Going there first would mean penning Phyrrhos as sundown approached.
“You two go pen Phyrrhos. I’ll send somebody to get a bucket of fire rocks,” Second said. She glanced upstairs. “I don’t want to leave Jael unprotected.”
“Tan wouldn’t hurt Jael,” Kyle said. Dung. She had to open her big mouth. They’d never trust her now.
Second closed her hand around the nape of Kyle’s neck and gave her a hard shake. “What do you know?”
“I…I saw her. In the woods earlier.”
Second paced, cursing under her breath. She stopped and looked at them. “Don’t stand there staring. Go. Get that dragon horse locked up tight.” She started toward the office but stopped and pointed at Kyle. “I’m going to d-message the rest of The Guard to get here as fast as their transports can carry them. Then I’ll help you stand watch. If Tan shows up, do not engage her. If at all possible, stall until I can stand with you.”
“Yes, Commander.”
❖
Phyrrhos paced, kicking her heels as the sun dropped lower in the sky.
“Stars, we need to hurry,” Toni said. “If she sprouts wings, she’ll be gone before we can blink.”
“You get the other mare out of the way. I’ll try to calm Phyrrhos,” Kyle said, opening the gate and stepping inside the large paddock. “I’m not sure why, but we have some kind of connection.”
Tracker and the Spy Page 8
