by PJ Schnyder
No promise to help any of them get out either. Rygard had to give a certain grudging respect to Bharguest. The man was a survivor of the truest kind, with no loyalties to anyone but himself.
Rygard studied Kaitlyn standing next to him.
She’d come to find him and she hadn’t left a single man behind, even Zec who would have left her to rape and torture.
Bharguest had at least one thing right. She was beautiful.
“I’m in.” Badger stepped forward, gave a nod first to Rygard then to Dev, finally to Kaitlyn. “CO tasked me with planning the incursion anyway. I bring it to him, and he’ll buy into it. Especially when I plan to be involved personally.”
“So are we.” Tracer piped up. Rygard eyed them dubiously. A tracking team wouldn’t have been his first choice to round out this group. “They want interesting for the arenas. We can give them some variety. We go in and put on a good show, we locate your men, we get out. Take the intel we gather about the inside with us to plan a larger incursion later. Keep it simple.”
Kaitlyn nodded. “Fine, we plan with this team. Everyone keep brainstorming.” She lifted her chin at Max. “You, up on a stretcher so I can get a look at your paw.”
The dog obeyed without hesitation. The rest of them exchanged looks. She was the hub, the reason every one of them was willing to work together, including Bharguest. The knowledge of it passed between them all and they continued to plan.
Chapter Eleven
Alone, the space between them was an awkward, tangible, thing. The others had left, taking Bharguest back to his holding cell before finding their bunks.
Rygard didn’t blame the captain for wanting to personally see the dangerous man back into a secure holding cell. He’d planned to have a word with the commanding officer about the complacent attitude of the military police escorting the prisoner, but having met Petrico-Calin, the Fourth, Rygard wasn’t sure it would do any good. Bharguest’s cooperation seemed to hinge on his interest in Kaitlyn more than his incarceration.
Not a comfortable situation.
Rygard looked over to where Kaitlyn stood, all the way on the other side of Med Bay. “We have a plan.”
“There should be a plan B developed sometime between now and when we execute plan A,” Kaitlyn commented.
With everyone else gone, her manner had turned shy.
He’d missed it about her, this special facet of her she never showed her crew, not her captain, not anyone. For the moment, she was his girl.
When he slid off the stretcher and started to walk toward her, she pushed away from the wall and met him halfway across the room. As he pulled her into his arms, she slid her own under his to encircle his waist.
“I missed you.” Her whisper in his ear made his heart expand painfully inside his chest and he crushed her close.
Damn, he couldn’t stand the thought of how close he’d come to watching her violated. He wanted to search her body for every bruise, kiss every hurt, erase the ghost of the scumbag’s touch from her skin. He couldn’t make himself let her go, not even the arm’s length he’d need to see her.
And she hugged him back, breathing deep and letting the warm air out slowly against his neck. Did she know what she was waking in him? It had been too long and he wanted to claim her in a way that had nothing to do with civilized behavior.
“Are you all right?” He asked the question instead, because it needed to be asked. She’d hold off on thinking about her fight with the jailer for as long as she could, but she needed to admit to him and to herself what had happened back on the planet.
She stilled in his arms for a long moment, and then nodded against his shoulder. “I remembered, while I was down there. It distracted me.”
More than distracted her. He’d seen the glazed look in her eyes. Torture victims sometimes withdrew so far within themselves they essentially became vegetables, the mind forever hiding from the pain and suffering of the body. He’d watched, tried to get to her, but he’d seen her disappear into herself before she’d somehow recovered.
He crushed her against him again. “You scared me, sweetness. Not gonna lie. I think I almost lost you down there.”
She didn’t argue with him, didn’t give him a false reassurance. “I’m here now.”
He nodded, rubbing his face in her silky hair. “And so am I.”
“You’re safe.”
“And so are you.”
She stilled in his arms. The only reason he didn’t worry was because she pressed herself to him, holding him close in her embrace. After a long time, she whispered against his shirt, “I missed your heartbeat.”
Emotion welled up in his throat and the discomfort in his chest from moments earlier tightened, warmed. Not a feeling he was used to and not something he wanted to examine too closely. Instead, he decided to just savor and enjoy. He was happy.
A question floated to the surface of his thoughts. She might not be able to bear someone too close after what happened back there. Sleep might be impossible.
Shit, it was selfish. Still, he’d ask her and let her decide.
“Can I stay here with you tonight?” He tried to keep the question light, didn’t want to pressure her.
She lifted her face from his chest, looked up at him with those intense blue eyes. “Yes.”
No fear. Was that what they meant when they said fathomless? He couldn’t read anything in her gaze. A tremor ran through her body, faint maybe, still there. And that, he could understand.
“It’s okay, sweetness. We don’t need to do anything.” He kissed her forehead. When she didn’t stiffen or pull away, he pressed another kiss to her temple. “Just let me hold you. Hell, if you don’t feel comfortable with that, I can sleep over on one of the patient beds. I just...need to be nearby.”
He needed to be able to protect her. Not that he could.
“I couldn’t get to you. I tried, but I wasn’t strong enough to get past those bars, pull that bastard off of you.” Suddenly, his jaw was clenched too tight and he sucked in a ragged breath of air. “And tonight, you’re going to have your nightmares. Old ones. New ones. You’re bound to and I can’t keep you safe from them.”
“Rygard...”
He tightened his arms carefully around her, tucked her head under his chin. “But I can wake you up. I can be here to hold you while you put them behind you.”
Her arms loosened, and she placed her hands at his hips and pressed. He released her, stepped back. He’d leave, though she’d said yes earlier. He didn’t want to force himself on her in any way.
“Rygard.” His name whispered from her lips, a soft and sweet sound. No darkness there.
Kaitlyn took his hands in hers and stepped backward, tugged him with her. Didn’t take much strength. He followed her readily.
“I do want you there. I want to wake up beside you.” Her full lips twisted and then she caught her lower lip between her teeth. He wanted to kiss her so bad. “First, I want you to be with me. I want you to run your hands over every part of me until I forget his touch.”
He did kiss her then. Couldn’t help himself.
Her lips softened under his immediately, opened for him. Her tongue met his in a tentative touch. Struggling for control, trying to remember she needed gentleness, he backed off and sucked gently at her plump lower lip.
A growl rose up from her and her hands tightened on his as she captured his mouth with her own.
His Kaitlyn was hungry. And she was making it clear. If he was a smart man, he’d give her what she hungered for, soon.
Yes, ma’am.
He lifted her hands and pressed them against his chest, still kissing her, reveling in the taste of her. She responded by caressing, sliding her fingertips over his collar bone. Her touch sent shivers through him.
Time to return t
he favor.
He ran his hands over her, down past her shoulder blades, the curve of her back and lower until he cupped the tight cheeks of her ass and squeezed. Her hands balled into fists, grabbing the fabric of his shirt. He chuckled against her lips and did it all again. She nipped at his mouth this time. When he repeated the caress a third time, he dipped his head and set his mouth against her shoulder and bit, just hard enough to make her gasp. As she tossed back her head, he lifted her.
She squeaked, clutched at his shoulders for balance before she wrapped her legs around his waist.
God he enjoyed how cute she was, and hot, and sexy, all at the same time.
“You know I’m too heavy for this.”
He captured her mouth again, drowned out the rest of her protest. Sure, her tight body weighed more than a normal woman’s. But those butterflies bruised too easily. His Kaitlyn, she could take him.
“Put me down.” She panted, breathless. Good.
“Where?” He dragged his lips down her neck, buried his face in the front of her ship suit.
Her thighs tightened at his waist. “Um...over...my bunk. Over there.”
Their mouths met in a clash of lips, teeth and tongues dancing. When the toes of his boots hit the edge of her bunk, he still didn’t let her down right away. He liked having her wrapped around him.
“Too many clothes.”
She was right. He gave her rump one more squeeze, and then dumped her on the mattress.
“Hey!”
He grinned at her, undoing his shirt. “Hey, what?”
Wide blue eyes stared at his chest as he revealed skin.
“You like what you see?”
Her voice came quiet, her eyes never wavering from watching him undress. “It’s different, seeing you in person. Doesn’t matter how good the resolution is in the hologram, the real you is so much better.”
Warmth spread through his core.
When she reached for the seal to her ship suit, he protested. “I want to do the unwrapping. You stay right where you are.”
No more wasted time. He had his boots off and dropped his pants. There was no way she was going to doubt how much he’d missed her.
“I’m not staying here for much longer.” She had the very tip of her tongue pressed to the edge of her upper teeth.
All he could think of was what he wanted to do with that tongue of hers.
“No worries. I’m not keeping you waiting anymore.” He caught her mouth, nipped the corners as he pressed her back on her bunk.
This time, he ran his hands over her front, along her side and down her long thighs. Slow, soothing motions making her relax under him and clutch at his biceps at the same time. He dragged his mouth down her neck and pressed kisses across her collar bone. Her eyes remained closed, her head tipped back, when he unsealed her ship suit.
She’d come a long way since their first time together. Still sweet, but now she trusted him.
He opened her ship suit and admired her breasts, caught up in the sexiest black lace. His girl did love her lingerie and he heartily approved. Cupping each breast in turn, he squeezed and molded them in his hands, making her squirm under him. Her nipples were already taut nubs and it only took a little more pressure for them to pop over the edge of her lace bra. No way he could resist. He closed his lips over one, circled it with his tongue and then sucked.
“Ah!” Her sweet voice sounded surprised. Her hand slid from his shoulder to grasp the back of his head and her thighs squeezed his hips.
A wave of lust rushed through him and he ground his hips into hers. Control? What control?
He had her ship suit off her as fast as he could without hurting her, glad she’d kicked off her grav boots sometime during the desperate struggle with fabric. And just like that, he had silken soft skin under his hands.
His hands weren’t the only ones busy. She ran hers over his chest and sides. Then her fingertips coasted over the length of his cock, drawing a groan from deep inside him.
“I love your hands,” she whispered.
His? “Yours are going to end me before I get inside you, sweetness.”
He caught her hands and pressed them to his shoulders again as he knelt. She shuddered as he coaxed her knees up, pressed his palms just under her cheeks and squeezed.
“Like that?”
She mumbled something. Her hands gripped his shoulders. He’d take that for a yes.
* * *
Every inch of Kaitlyn’s skin tingled. The shadows of the past burned to ashes under Rygard’s touch and her entire being focused on what his hands were doing to her...and how open she was to what he was about to do next.
His hands gripped the backs of her thighs, sending another wave of excitement through her, then they were pressing her legs open farther. As she became aware of cool air on her exposed mound, he brushed his lips against her most sensitive flesh.
No claws! Still, he was going to have nail marks in the skin across his shoulders.
A pause? Her eyes flew open and she looked down to see what had caused him to stop.
He was watching her, the look in his eyes full of decadent promises. “Hold on to something.”
Not trusting her control over her claws, she moved her hands to the mattress on either side of her and took a good grip. He lifted an eyebrow at her and didn’t break eye contact as he extended his tongue and ran it along the length of her slit.
Sensation shot through her and she threw back her head, bucked hard in his grip. He didn’t give her time to recover. He closed his mouth over her and began to alternate between sucking and nipping at her clit. His hands kept a hold of her legs, running up and down the outsides of her thighs one moment and then gripping the backs again.
She writhed in his hold, tearing holes in the mattress under her hands. When she thought she couldn’t take any more of the torturous pleasure, he spread one hand over her lower abdomen. Holding her with gentle pressure, he continued to circle and tease her clit with his tongue while he used his free hand to run a finger around her entrance.
She ached to have him inside her. Needed him to touch the places she couldn’t reach. “Rygard, please...”
His finger slid inside her as his mouth closed over her clit and sucked. He pumped in and out, sending wave after wave of pleasure through her until it all pooled in her lower belly.
She cried out as her orgasm ripped through her, and still he didn’t stop. He stroked her and licked her, prolonged her shuddering release until she gasped for air.
Then he rose up between her legs. She opened her eyes, watched him as he positioned himself with one hand, braced his other hand on the mattress beside her.
“Do you want this?” the tip of his penis nudged at her entrance, but he held back, waited for her permission.
She swallowed hard, surprised at the deep ache she still had inside her. Needed him to fill her. “Yes.”
He entered her, a long and slow slide. His girth stretched her muscles and she angled her hips to take more of him. When he was buried to the hilt inside of her, she felt so completely taken, so right. He ran a hand over the length of her body again, from her collar bone and over her chest, down her belly and over her hip to take a hold of her ass. He rolled his hips, drawing a moan from her.
“Ready?” His voice had gone hoarse, his jaw tightened.
“Yes.” Please.
Only then did he begin moving inside her, slow at first and then picking up the pace. She reached for him, setting her hands on either side of his hips, urging him faster and deeper. He bent over her, slid his arms under her back until he could grip her shoulders. The movement gave him more leverage, allowed him deeper inside her and she shuddered with the wonderful feeling of it. She bent her head to his shoulder, muffled her cries in his strength. Then he tangled a ha
nd in her hair, tugged just enough to make her take a breath and he took her mouth with his in a kiss that sent her drowning as they came together.
Chapter Twelve
“State your name, planet of origin and business.”
“Rishkill. Terra. Trainer.”
Rygard kept his eyes lowered, watching Kaitlyn’s captain from the corner of his eye as Dev held his counterfeit wrist ident out for scanning. Instead of turning his wrist over for the scan, exposing the vulnerable underside, Dev held his arm out with his hand in a loose fist. To a casual onlooker, it’d seem Dev’s arm was extended to fullest length, but his elbow was soft and the captain had enough slack to pop a jab if need be. After a momentary clash of glares, the Sketz’es guard was forced to hold the scanner under Dev’s wrist to get the data.
“Be dominant from the very beginning,” Bharguest had warned Dev before they’d arrived. “No one will believe you could train all of us otherwise. Every move, every gesture is a pissing contest.”
Dev was playing out the game exactly as their guide instructed and the guard responded with stiff posture, dropped gaze and reptilian tail curled low between his legs. Rygard wasn’t fooled though and kept an eye on that tail. Bharguest had spent time briefing them on fighting habits of the more common aliens they’d be pitted against. Sketz’es weren’t above putting their own kind in the arenas, and the lizard-like aliens could do a lot of damage with those tails in a fight.
Even with the majority of his service career spent on secret ops missions outside the Terran solar system, Rygard hadn’t encountered as many alien species as he’d seen come and go through the main gates of what Bharguest called the Colosseum. Based on the stylized signage alongside the gates, it had different names in every alien language.
“You intend to enter your property in the games, Trainer Rishkill?” The guard tapped a sequence on his data pad with a wicked curved claw. “How many and in what configuration?”
“Two pairs, one lone gladiator.” Dev tossed out the data with brisk efficiency.
The guard’s cold gaze swept over Rygard. At his side, Kaitlyn’s fur lifted along her shoulders and spine as she arched her back and bared her teeth to hiss. She was an impressive sight and several other trainers had paused in passing to admire her.
