The Colonel's Man

by Mina Carter, J. William Mitchell

  The idea worked well and they had managed to evade detection but the ion storm also meant that there were no comms. No way to contact the Mandrakion for evac. They lost power on the descent and a freak lightning hit fried what was left of their flight control. Jason moved up to the cockpit to help the pilot land while Arita strapped herself in the back. He had only hoped the mayday they sent to the ship had reached it in time before they lost communications.

  He looked up to the rain beaten windscreen and the sharp, bloodied branch that had punched through the canopy and impaled their pilot. There was still blood on the chair where the man had bled out. For Jason it was too close a call and whenever he didn’t have to work on reinforcing their shelter from the torrential rains that battered the wreck to looking for food and trying to raise the ship over comms, he pondered his luck.

  That branch could have just as easily gone through his side of the windscreen. He could have just as easily been the one buried just outside their camp in a rough grave instead of the poor bastard who’d never get to see his wife and daughter again.

  Re-securing the tarp covering the damage to the windscreen, he returned to the back section. They’d stripped out the majority of the seats to give them room to move. Two survival mats were grouped by the back wall, a pile of sleeping bags on top of them.

  Barefoot and stripped down to her combat pants and a sleeveless top, Arita leaned back against the metal bulkhead, a canteen held against her forehead. Even from here, he could see the flush across her cheeks.

  “Still got the temperature?” He sat down next to her and reached over. She’d been running a low-grade fever for a couple of days and it was beginning to worry him. “Christ, lady…you’re burning up. Are you sure you didn’t get bitten or something?”

  The lone medkit aboard contained enough medical supplies to treat even the worst field wounds but their rough landing had rendered the handheld med scanner too damaged to be useful and broke several vials of medication. He had been giving her Prolazine since yesterday to help bring down her temperature, but whatever was burning her up was too strong for the drug.

  He pressed a hand against her neck and felt for her pulse which was higher than normal. “Your pulse is still the same.”

  Reaching through the tarp that hung over the rear cargo doors, he retrieved his canteen from the water collection system he had set up just outside their door. He took away the canteen that she had been holding against her forehead and replaced it with the new one.

  “I’m fine. Had worse.”

  She shivered at the contact, opening her eyes and swallowing with effort. It was the same litany he’d been hearing for hours as he watched her symptoms get worse, and his temper was frayed. There was something wrong, and her close-lipped attitude wasn’t helping.

  There was something she wasn’t telling him…and that pissed him off.

  Mouth set in a grim line, he went over by the rear cargo doors to the thermal burners he had salvaged and turned into a makeshift cook stove. Arita had insisted on hunting for the past two days and that pissed him off more. She was already sick; she didn’t need to be wearing herself out hunting for more food than they could eat in a week. The rations they had would be sufficient for several more days and he had managed to catch some fish from a nearby pond in between hours when the rain wasn’t pounding them.

  Despite threats of bodily restraint, she had managed to slip away when he wasn’t looking. She always came back with the wild game indigenous to the planet. Each time he made it clear to her that so help him God, he would take drastic action if she chose to be hard-headed.

  That just sparked the “I’m your superior officer” debate which had ended in a stalemate between them when neither side refused to budge. He wasn’t about to let her pull rank on him when it was so obvious she was distressed.

  The grilled fish and the meat of some sort of wild rabbit made up their entree for the night. Quickly portioning it off, he took both loaded plates over to Arita and set hers next to her. When she made no effort to reach for it, he filleted a piece of the fish with his knife and held it to her. “You need to eat.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not hungry. I’ll get something later.”

  Leaning back and closing her eyes, she ignored the food he held out and that did it for Jason. Calmly and precisely, he put his knife down and the plates aside, ignoring the anger and frustration raging within. Fear for her condition, the relief he’d felt when it had been the pilot and not him, the shame he felt at that relief all came to the boil over the fire of the tension between them.

  “You’re sick. You need to eat. If you don’t, I’ll damn well force feed you.”

  She cracked an eyelid and looked at him. He didn’t miss the shiver that raked her body. “I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me, it’ll go away in a few days.”

  “What will go away? You keep going out there even if you’re wet and miserable. When I insist on doing the hunting you bail without leaving any room for argument. I keep trying to make it easier for you but you won’t let me. You keep giving me the same answers like a broken record and I can’t take it anymore!” he snapped, his voice sharp but he didn’t care.

  “I know you’re keeping something from me, dammit, and I don’t like being fucked around with. If there’s something that’s going on with you, you need to tell me so I can help you instead of just lying there suffering in silence and driving me nuts!”

  “I can’t!”

  She pushed away from him, surging to her feet to pace the small confines of the drop-shuttle. Her hands shook as she pushed them both through her hair. She looked as fragile and delicate as he’d ever seen her look, the expression in her eyes haunted.

  “I’m not fucking around. I just… I can’t… I won’t do anything to take your choices away.”

  He hated berating her but his anger and frustration was still doing its best to claw out of its confines. He hated being helpless while she suffered.

  “Choices? What does that have to do with what you’re going through Arita? Talk to me, please. Let me help you.”

  She dropped her hands and just looked at him. Her eyes were dark, darker than normal and another shiver hit her.

  “I’m part Fenarian, Jason. Once a year…oh, fuck it. I’m in heat, okay? All I can think about…you don’t want to know what I’m thinking. Just let me ride it out. I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

  She was in heat?

  He thought she was joking, a nasty one at that, but the look in her eyes… Shock rolled through him. She was telling the truth. He knew enough of the concept. An undeniable, strong biological compulsion to ensure the propagation of the species. His blood boiled at the thought of how she had been able to cope with it in the past.

  “How bad does it get?”

  “Bad.”

  Her voice was little more than a whisper as she backed up. When she hit the wall the other side, she slid to a crouch, her entire body drawn in lines of tension. “Shakes. Hot then cold chills. I can’t drink enough water but food makes me sick. The less I eat though, the easier the compulsion grabs me until I can’t take it anymore.”

  She closed her eyes but he could tell it was an effort. “Two ways to deal with it. The obvious… I go to one of the bigger stations, a bar…you get the idea. Or sedation. I’ve had Hurst put me out for a couple of days over the worst before.”

  Sedatives. Powerful stuff that required an expert knowledge of medical science to be employed properly, and Jason was no doctor. Not that it mattered since the two vials of sedatives that they had in the kit had been spilled during the crash.

  That left them with only one other option. Heat surged through his body, centering in his cock.

  “Arita. Let me help you.”

  She bit her lip, white teeth mangling the soft, plump flesh. “No. I can’t. I don’t want you to do this out of sympathy or because you feel you have to offer.”

  “Arita…” He closed his eyes and took in a breath
to try and compose himself. “I am not saying this because I feel that I need to or that I feel sorry for you…”

  He closed the distance between them until he crouched in front of her. She pressed herself against the wall further as if she were trying to get away from him, flinching as he reached for her, but he easily captured her chin with his fingers and tilted her head up to look at him.

  “I’m saying this because I want to…and I want you. You want proof? Let me demonstrate.”

  They were his last words before he leaned in and claimed her mouth with his.

  She shivered again as he kissed her softly, the tension in her body so tight he thought she’d snap. She didn’t move, just let him whisper his lips over hers. Tempting and teasing her. Admiration surged through him. The misery she must have been suffering, fighting to stay positive, suffering from her heat and pushing herself physically even as it weakened her. Angling his head, he flicked his tongue over the seam of her lips as he stood, gently hauling her with him. No matter what arguments she made, this stopped now.

  He could feel her half hearted attempts to resist him, her hands trying to create some distance between them as he took her to the cot but he ended that by carrying her outright and depositing her on their makeshift bed. Her hair was already dry, curling in soft waves around her head like a halo as she lay there looking up at him.

  She looked sexy, unsure…and his own desire ran rampant. She held up both hands against his chest, apparently a final effort to resist and he couldn’t handle it anymore. With a snarl he pinned both arms above her head.

  “I told you. You come to me,” he growled as he leaned in and took possession of her mouth.

  Chapter Eight

  She shouldn’t let him do this, should push him away but, with her hands pinned over her head and his body hard against hers, with the need that increased with every breath…Arita couldn’t. Couldn’t carry on fighting both him and her own instincts.

  With a moan, she gave in. Sure, she was his superior officer, but she was also a woman. One that liked the cheek he gave her, the sass in his smile as he shot her a look, and the way his hands held her wrists as he plundered her lips.

  She could feel the firm command in the way he held her. She remembered his words before. The ones about being the kind of man who always went after what he wanted and now he was doing just that, with her. She could still feel his anger and it excited her a little. For a long time she had wanted a man who was strong enough to cut through all the smoke and the walls she put up.

  Jason was strong enough.

  He broke the kiss and pulled back to gaze at her with blue eyes turned to arctic heat. Anger combined with concern and irritation. With her. She bit her lip as she looked up at him, easily reading his expression. Exasperation and desire.

  “Take off your clothes.”

  Her lips quirked as she pulled at her wrists. “Kinda have to let go of me for that, handsome.”

  He chuckled, a rich deep sound as he smiled a devil’s grin and released his hold on her. Kneeling back, he took off his shirt and she felt a weakness deep within her as she gazed upon his well defined upper body; bulging muscles, washboard abs and smooth skin all over. The knowing smile didn’t go away as he watched and waited for her.

  Arching her back, she ran her hands through her hair, twisting a little to show off the curves of her body. His gaze followed her every move, his expression filled with heat and promise.

  Grasping the bottom of her top she pulled it up slowly to reveal her toned stomach. As the cool air hit her skin she sucked a breath in, and pulled the top over her head in one smooth movement to drop it on the floor by the bed. Her breath shivered from her lungs, breasts pushing upwards and threatening to spill from the utilitarian black bra that confined them.

  She could feel the searing heat of the path his eyes took on its slow tour down to her bra-clad breasts. His eyes lifted to hers as his eyebrow lifted in a question mark. He didn’t speak.

  She smiled. “Bossy now, are we?”

  Instead of taking the bra off, she hooked her fingers into her pants and slid them down to reveal a matching thong. Color and heat decorated her cheeks as he watched her kick the pants off. Her fingers trailed up her thighs and over her hips, sliding over her stomach before stroking over her ribcage. She cupped her breasts briefly, pushing them together to create a deep cleavage before teasing him by slipping a finger under the clasp.

  She stopped, biting her lip. She wasn’t ashamed of her body but something deep down wanted him to do this. Her skin burnt, an ache filling her to have his hands on her.

  “Please… I want you to.”

  He leaned over her once again as his fingers made short work of the front clasp. His eyes widened in anticipation, his breathing labored as the clasp gave way. His fingers parted the fabric and she moaned in pleasure as she spilled into his hands.

  The uttered obscenity from his lips sounded like praise as he squeezed, toyed and tested her. His thumbs lightly flicked over her nipples, bringing a gasp to her lips with every movement.

  “Ever since I first touched you that day… I could feel how perfect you were. I wanted to touch you again. Taste you…” he whispered as he pinched and rolled her nipples in his fingers and she shuddered with pleasure.

  She held her breath as she watched him lower his head to her breast. A soft cry bubbled out of her throat as she felt the tip of his tongue touch her nipple and slowly enfold it into the wet heat of his mouth. He suckled her ardently as his rough tongue abraded her.

  Her hands drove into his hair to hold him close, the short strands of his hair like silk against her fingers. Heat and need warred for dominance within her tortured body. His words wrapped a spell around her, sliding seductively into her soul.

  “Me too,” she admitted, ending on a moan as he looped an arm under her waist to drag her nearer. He bent her back over it and loomed over her as he kissed his way over to the other nipple. “Dreams… Shouldn’t think of you that way but I can’t help it.”

  Jason didn’t reply right away. He took his time finessing her other nipple with his mouth and when the sensations were almost too much he looked up at her. “Arita…don’t think if it’s right or wrong. Nothing else matters…just you and me.”

  As he spoke his hand slid across her belly, the muscles contracting involuntarily at his touch. His fingers toyed with the waistband of her thong as he gazed at her.

  “Look at me…” His hand slipped under her thong, fingers spreading her then finally he touched her. “And just feel.”

  She bit her lip, trying to stop the moans from the back of her throat spilling over as the blunt, broad tip of his finger slid through her folds. His tongue rasped over her nipple again as he collected the slick evidence of her arousal and circled her clit. Pleasure cascaded through her, stealing her ability to think.

  “Jason…please,” she whimpered, her nails scoring his back.

  “Shh… soon babe. I know,” he whispered as he knelt back. She suddenly felt bereft that she was no longer touching him but then his hands were on her hips; his thumbs under the waistband of her thong as he started to slip it off her body. And then she was lying beneath his heated gaze blissfully naked and aroused beyond words.

  He silently pressed her legs back and her thighs apart, urging her to open up to him. The cool evening air feathered against the wetness of her pussy. He touched her gently, tracing the outline of her slick labia. Before she knew it, she felt the digit sink into her.

  He was slow and steady…and it drove her nuts as he thrust slowly in and out. How he had such control she didn’t know. A second finger joined the first and she moaned, her hips bucking against his hand as she rode his fingers, desperate for more. Anything to reach the release hovering just out of reach. She panted, reaching up to wrap a hand around the back of his neck and pulling him down for a torrid kiss.

  She felt the slick exploration of his tongue with the deep steady thrusts of his digits. He crossed his finger
s, eliciting a gasp that turned into a soft moan in his mouth as he started to corkscrew in and out of her. The feeling was exquisite, her release looming. But she wanted more. Something filling her completely, deeply.

  She wanted him. Filling her, fucking her.

  She became the aggressor, kissing him back with everything she had, trying to put what she felt into the words she couldn’t say. Somehow he’d become essential to her. Sunk under the guard she’d erected after the fucked up situation her marriage had turned into and wrapped himself around her heart.

  He stopped everything he was doing just long enough to stand up and tear the rest of his clothes off until he was as naked as her. She lifted her hand and beckoned to him. His eyes shone with blazing lust. Her embarrassment fell away as his gaze swept over her body.

  He dropped to one knee on the bed, then the other, his hand wrapping and around and sliding up her leg possessively. She shifted as he parted her thighs with his knee and settled between them.

  She bit down on her lower lip as he covered her, everything female within her responding to the heat and hardness of his larger body. A whimper escaped her lips as he rolled his hips, rubbing the rigid length of his cock against her pussy lips.

  He reached between their bodies and grasped his cock, circling the entrance to her pussy and bathing himself in the slickness he found there. Each circle and slide elicited shards of pleasure; pleasure and the agony of wanting all rolled into one. He pressed against her; slick, hard and hot.

  She dragged a gasp in as he sank into her. The thick head of his cock stretched her, forcing the delicate tissues to part around him as he pushed in a few inches, then paused, giving her time to get used to him. She’d felt him pressed against her before, during the office encounter…and when he’d kissed her in the corridor. But neither incident had prepared her for just how big he was. The whimper escaped as she rolled her hips against him, the ache deep in her pussy demanding he finish what he’d started and fill her completely.