by Lara LaRue
“It’s raining too hard for us to dare explore outside. The night predators come out as well in such a storm, which makes it twice as deadly out in the forest.” He took my hand and led me to a pile of cushions in the center of the room. “I thought perhaps bringing you here would be the best compromise.”
I settled onto the cushions, and he crouched down next to me, caressing my shoulder through the white fabric of my jumpsuit. I looked down at it, and felt my sadness stab a little deeper. “I’d like some clothes from Lyra,” I said quietly. “Every time I look at this getup now, I am reminded of what I once had. Or . . . thought I had.”
“I will have one of the gatherers fashion you a tunic and trousers.” He reached down and unfastened both of my boots, then pulled them off me and started rubbing my feet. He had become good at it in a few short days, good enough that my head lolled and my anguish slipped away a little bit.
“Thank you. Mmm. Magic fingers.” I lay back against the pillows, knowing he had not brought me here to meditate, but minding not one bit as my body relaxed. He stopped only to slip off his tunic, and I looked up to see the multicolored blobs of light splashing across his skin like watercolor spreading across fresh paper. His eyes gleamed down at me, and I reached up to run my hands over his shoulders.
He knew I was mourning the loss of my world and all I had known, so he was gentle with me, moving slow caresses through the jumpsuit, giving way to the soft glide of his mouth as he slid the fabric off my shoulders and pulled it down inch by gradual inch. Sometimes, tears would still come sliding down my cheeks or catch in my hair as my head tilted back; he would hold me then and kiss them away, waiting until I was ready before moving on with his delicate seduction. So strange that someone so huge and built for carnage could be so gentle. It made me count my blessings as he laid his mouth against my neck and pulled me into his arms.
We rolled back and forth on the pile of pillows, mouths ravaging each other’s and hands exploring skin, breath gone to harsh pants in the cavernous quiet of the room. The only sound we could hear outside our breaths and the heartbeats in our ears was the soft tap of rain on the panels. He kept his trousers on, even as he shuddered and his desire for me pushed the cloth of them firmly outward.
I ended up pinned under him, his hands gripping my wrists as he slid downward, trailing kisses down my belly. His lips brushed against my sex, and then he nuzzled me and started to kiss me there as well. I moaned, struggling reflexively, but he held me firmly as he darted his tongue into me and started slowly licking.
He kept at me as I writhed in his grip, the feeling almost too intense to bear. Pleasure won soon enough, and my struggles slowed, changing to rhythmic thrashing and slow rolls of my hips. I crooned, eyes going blurry, the shimmering light above me seeming to run together as I went up on my heels. I heard my own high, ecstatic wail echo off the dome, and then pleasure roared through me like a tidal wave.
I collapsed back to the pillows, staring up at the dome as I grappled to catch my breath. He sat up, a feral gleam in his eyes, as he kicked off his boots and took his trousers down. He threw himself over me, arching his back to sink his erection deep into me. He shouted into my shoulder, two short, hard cries, and then started to move fiercely.
I clung to him, whimpering and sobbing as he pounded away. He took hold of me and pushed us forward across the mound of pillows so my head lay back against them, dangling a little, lower than my heart. It made me feel a little dizzy, but as I saw the faintly wicked smile on his face, I knew it was quite deliberate. Gasping afresh, I gazed up at him as he thrust into me again and again.
His face transformed from impatient lust to wild bliss as the harsh slap of our bellies broke the quiet. His voice spiraled up slowly, from low grunts of effort to short groans, his head thrown back, lips parted, and his magnificent chest heaving.
The lightheaded feeling grew and grew as his thrusts aroused me again; I dug my nails into his back and panted, clinging tight. Then suddenly, the aftershocks he had roused in me rushed together into another powerful climax, and this time, a head rush intensified the sensation until I all but screamed in his ear.
“Aaah! Ah—” He thrust deep and groaned, and I felt his member jolt hard inside me. For a few moments, he stayed rigid as his body trembled . . . and then he collapsed over me with a sigh.
We held each other after, staring up at the glowing ceiling. “I have no world,” I murmured sadly, but the sadness was much muted now.
“Then let Lyra be your world.” He rolled over to look at me. “Let their betrayal make the decision for you. Please, my love. Stay with me, where you belong.”
I looked up at him and then swallowed, nodding. “I will.”
CHAPTER 12 / DEKKIR
“So how is she doing?” Elorie asked as her massive, bipedal Grogs bore the single travel sedan between them through the trackless forest.
I glanced back; Grace was napping in the sedan’s bunkhouse interior, tired and aggravated from the constant sway of our travel. I wasn’t altogether surprised; she had felt queasy the last few mornings—in a way I was trying not to get too hopeful about. Too bad we had left Neyilla’s tower behind before it had started, or we would know for certain.
“Neyilla trained her well. She is a formidable psychic, in her own way. She continues receiving communications from our spy on the humans’ moon base and has learned to broadcast as far as the seers in Highfort. She is accomplished as an empath as well and can detect lies on hearing them. And according to Neyilla, who monitored her for the whole moon cycle, her abilities continue to grow.”
“That’s a lot of potential for a race that doesn’t normally have psi abilities.” The slight, blond gatherer smiled up at me wryly. “But it’s not what I was talking about, and you know it.” She turned her head to click her tongue at the Grogs, who grunted a reply as they kept moving. The beasts clambered over obstacles, waded through them, or sometimes simply shouldered them aside, snapping off branches and uprooting brush. Now and again, they grunted to one another and shifted their path slightly to more easily bear the sedan over the broken ground.
I sighed, rubbing my face. “Well, she’s no longer so depressed, but I know she’s still angry about this and still misses her family. Once we return to Highfort and she regains her communications equipment, she’s going to be very careful about what she transmits. We will be meeting with my father and the council of seers about our next moves.” Poor Grace had been in the doldrums for over a week after learning of her commanders’ betrayal of both herself and the principles by which they claimed to operate. But slowly, with my help, Neyilla’s training, and a lot of pleasant distraction, she had improved and could now go a whole day and evening without my catching tears in her eyes.
“Well, I have to admit I like her better after seeing the risks she was willing to take for you. For all we knew, the Golden Strain could have killed her.”
“No,” I replied, though I certainly valued what Grace had done—and it had involved risks of a different sort. The Strain was reason enough that her fellow humans might not accept her anymore. “Her contact on the moon base, Tabirus, was the first human to inoculate himself. Once he knew it was safe, he recommended she do the same.”
“Tabirus. Now where have I heard that name before?” The corner of her mouth drew up as she mulled it.
“He was the first human to keep company with us. He is also apparently a friend of Neyilla’s.”
“Hmm. I didn’t know she spent much time with the human when he was here.” She pressed her lips together. “Did you have much interaction with him?”
“Only a few conversations. He traveled around the planet a great deal.” Something about that tickled at my mind. How had a human lived among us for two years as a liaison and made so little real impression, save on a few? And where had he gained his Lyran name? I knew my father had not granted it to him. So where did he get it?
“Sounds like an interesting guy. If he ends up coming back here, I
’d kind of like to meet him.” The Grogs were slowing, and snuffled hungrily at the vegetation around them. “Time for a rest break for the fuzzies. You think Grace would like a chance to stretch her legs?”
“I’ll go check on her.” I turned to clamber along the side bench bolted to the wood and stretched-hide sedan, found the lashed-shut entry flap, and untied it, sticking my head in.
Grace was already sitting up, blinking sleepily. “Grogs get hungry again?”
I smiled. “Yes, time for a rest break.”
“I’ll put my boots on.”
We ate dried eel meat and fruit leather as we wandered the small clearing where the Grogs had set down the sedan. The great beasts were currently widening the clearing, yanking greenery from the trees and ground and shoving them into their maws. The plants would grow back in a few days, but meanwhile, it gave us a little room to stretch our legs.
“I’ve got to admit, and I hope you’ll forgive me, but the high chieftain’s a better passenger when he’s unconscious. He kept arguing with me over everything: the route, the meals, the rest breaks. I’m a patriotic type, but . . .” Elorie trailed off, smirking tightly. Her crossbow was propped on her shoulder as she walked.
I laughed. “Say no more. He’s always moody after an illness, and bossy, too. It’s how he gets his sense of command back.”
“Well, at least you’re not like that when you’re recovering from something.” Grace rubbed her hand down my arm, leaving me tingling even through the sleeve leather.
“Oh no, I just eat like a Grog—” Wait. What’s that sound?
Humming. I quickly exchanged looks with the two women. “That sounds like an insect swarm.”
Our trio broke up immediately. Elorie started shouting orders to her men, while I turned and bustled Grace back toward the sedan. But before we could get more than ten paces, Grace looked up and gasped. “War drones!”
I followed her gaze and saw a dozen silvery shapes descending toward us on fragile-looking wings that spun instead of flapped. “Get the crossbows!” I shouted to the others as we ran to retrieve our own from the sedan.
“Those things have blasters.” Grace raised her voice, surprising me. “They have projectile weapons! Take cover!”
Chaos erupted throughout the caravan as people did their best to grab for their crossbows, just as shining bolts of pure energy started slamming into the ground all around us. I shielded Grace with my body as we ran the last few desperate paces, the ground erupting in puffs of dust and burning leaves behind us. I heard a scream of agony, and at least one body hit the ground. Cursing, I pushed her inside and then dove in myself, going for the weapons rack bolted to one of the ribs of the hide frame. I grabbed one crossbow and tossed her the other, shouldered a quiver of bolts, and turned to run back outside.
“How are these things controlled, Grace? We need your intelligence now.”
“They’re controlled remotely. Usually, it’s one person piloting up to four of them.”
I turned and gripped her shoulder. “Right. Then what I need from you is to leave the crossbow, stay here, and do everything you can to contact Tabirus. If he can shut them down at the source, we’ll win the day. Otherwise, we’ll have to get lucky shots in on their wings.”
Grace nodded and sat down in the middle of the sedan floor, closing her eyes. I saw her lips moving as she tried to project her thoughts all the way up to the moon base and the only friend who could help us now. She glanced up at me worriedly as I stepped back toward the entry flap, but she knew I had to go. I looked back once and then ran outside.
We had two men down, and everyone else was fighting for their lives, firing bolts and dodging blasts from their darting, hovering foes. Each drone was barely as long as my arm, but what fired from their proboscis-like projectors cut a man in half in front of me seconds after I emerged. I fired and managed to foul one’s wings but then ducked quickly away as another turned to fire on me.
In the back of my mind, I could feel Grace’s strain as she struggled to reach Tabirus. All I could do was protect the caravan until she could get through, but we were taking losses. Our weapons, which had fended off insect swarms and marauding predators of every size, were no match for these lifeless, murderous . . . things.
More of them poured down at us from the sky; the reinforcements put them at perhaps two dozen to our handful of remaining unwounded. I fought to keep my heart from sinking, knowing Grace would feel it and lose morale. Elorie and I ended up back to back as we guarded one of the wounded Grogs, who groaned and rolled as it gripped its singed arm.
“If this is it, Dekkir, you always were a good fuck,” Elorie quipped a moment before one of her shots crippled another drone.
“Uh, thanks, and we’re not dying. Also, don’t let my mate hear you talk that way.” I fired again, and this time, the drone danced aside impossibly and then oriented on us to fire.
I felt a surge of relief that wasn’t mine, and then was, as the drones suddenly stopped firing. They all hovered in place for a moment and then rose up again, disappearing rapidly into the sky.
Ragged cheers rose up as I turned and ran back to the sedan. I jumped up onto the bench and went inside, only to see Grace smiling up at me tiredly. “It’s done,” she said, and I sagged and pulled her into my arms.
“What happened?”
“Six drone pilots from one of Norcross’s divisions got the order to come after us. Tabirus found them with his mind and managed to convince them their target had been destroyed. He doesn’t know if the order came from Norcross, the commander, or someone else. He’s trying to find out.”
“So they think they killed us?”
Her smile became tight and troubled. “No, me. I was their target.”
I stared. “But why?”
“He’s trying to find that out, too.” She wiped sweat from her brow and went back to hanging on to me tightly. “Best guess either of us have is they wanted to kill me and then pin the deaths on you guys to strengthen their position that Earth must attack Lyra.”
I cupped the back of her head and held her against my shoulder. “So now they think you are dead.”
“For the moment. Tabirus is trying to determine who among the superiors should be told I am actually alive, if any. Right now, neither of us knows who up there can be trusted.” She shuddered violently.
I closed my eyes, just holding her. “We will find a way to deal with all of this,” I promised her as her shivering eased off. “And I will protect you in the meantime.”
“I know,” she murmured. “I’m just glad they had already lost my loyalty. Otherwise, I would never have had the strength to reach out to Tabirus.”
I kissed her forehead. “From now on, you will be keeping company with those who value your loyalty as it deserves. And as for the Earth Command leaders . . . if they think they can rain death down on Lyra with impunity, they are about to get a very large surprise.”
A storm was coming. But on Lyra, we had much experience in weathering storms. The humans, on the other hand, had no idea what they were in for now that they had threatened both my father and my mate. I will take revenge . . . for all of us.
CHAPTER 13 / GRACE
Grace! Wake up, young one. There’s trouble.
My eyes flew open, and for a moment, I stared in confusion at the friendly darkness of the bedroom I shared with my mate. I could hear Dekkir breathing softly beside me, soundly asleep. His mind projected contentment, sexual satisfaction, and the vague confusion of his dreams. The voice in my head had not come from him. I squinted, trying to focus. It was still difficult for me to project telepathically, and my lips moved as I sub-vocalized my answer. Doctor, is that you?
It is. I could sense the urgency in his mental contact, real fear behind it. Not fear for himself. Fear for us. Fear for me. We have a serious problem, and the sooner you and the others can ready yourselves, the better.
I felt my muscles tense as I focused on that mental voice. The man on the other end of
the contact was supposed to be on the moon base where the humans were located. All except for me, anyway. But for all intents and purposes, including bonding myself to the future leader of this planet, I had completely gone native. Tell me what’s happening.
Our dear friend, Lieutenant Damon Norcross, stormed out of an argument with the commander perhaps half an hour ago. Ever since then, he’s been gathering his troops. He’s taking a contingent of one hundred men down to Lyra by dropship. He intends to attack Highfort within two hours.
Adrenaline surged through me like icy water in my veins. I don’t understand. The commander is just letting him do this?
The commander is emotionally compromised and has been compensating with an awful lot of alcohol. The doctor’s mental voice went very grave. Norcross has been able to do a great deal under his nose because of this. He is responsible for the drone attack on your caravan. He is very likely responsible for the assassination attempt on High Chieftain Dorin. I don’t know if he’s under orders from the higher-ups in Earth Command, but either way, he is bringing trouble to Lyra.
That absolute son of a bitch. I slipped quickly out of bed, rearranging the fur blankets so the chill of the room would not reach my mate’s back. Do you have any idea what his aim is?
If his mind were not unreadable, I would know for certain. However, it stands to reason that he intends to kill the high chieftain, the chieftain’s successor Dekkir, and yourself. Killing all three targets and destroying the capital would go a very long way toward crippling Lyran society. We already know Earth Command wants to take over the planet. If they level Highfort, they may just manage it.
Not a chance. Dekkir and I won’t allow it. I scowled as I pulled on the pale-brown leather trousers and tunic my mate had sourced for me.
Well, that’s an excellent attitude, but it won’t change the fact that a small army will be headed your direction very quickly. I would suggest waking up your mate and getting to work on warning the others. His mental contact had a touch of bitter humor. I will arrange to follow the dropships. I have ideas on how I can toss an auto-spanner into their plans. But meanwhile, you need to deal with all of those human soldiers headed your way.
