Armored Hearts (11 page)

I was able to divert a lot of supplies for my bolthole, but a pulse cannon would have been a little much
, Rand had told her.
Even the Godssonists keep a better eye on that kind of thing than that
.

The hum of repeller fields became a deep bass thrum as the two ten man transports came in for a landing, touching down next to the two seat zipper they’d arrived in.

Assuming there really were ten men on each craft, she and Rand faced ten-to-one odds. Maybe more. Zara swallowed and licked her dry lips.

As one transport came to a feather light rest, the other skidded and bounced on its landing gear before it finally stopped. Apparently, whoever was running the show had been able to find only one good pilot when they’d fled the mercenary attack on the base.

As Rand had predicted, the two craft had parked with their noses toward the tunnels. There wasn’t room for both of them in any other position.

The doors slid wide on each of the crafts. Armored men raced out, rifles at the ready, evidently expecting to encounter fire.

They weren’t disappointed. Zara drew a bead on the first man out the door of the nearest transport. Her shot took him perfectly through the faceplate, one of the few spots of vulnerability on mechsuits. He tumbled off the ramp as she shot the mech immediately after him, though the next two survived because they tucked and rolled. They came up firing, but both missed the camouflaged tunnel.

Zara went right on laying down fire with all the skill and speed she’d worked so hard to learn since becoming V.S.S. She put a number of the Godssonists down, but others managed to take cover at the rear of their transport.

She was distantly aware of shouts and screams of pain as Rand tore into the men emerging from the transport he’d targeted.

Just as they’d planned, he shot the first three, who’d fallen as he charged out to engage the rest at hand to hand. It was risky, but it also took the enemy thoroughly by surprise. Besides, Rand’s vampire strength was a lethal advantage.

Hanging back and shooting was problematic anyway, since the Godssonists’ armor would deflect everything but a faceplate shot. And a faceplate was a relatively small target, especially when the enemy was moving fast.

Rand’s armored fists and feet, on the other hand, could shatter mechsuit plates, driving shards of armor into the wearer’s body.

Then there was his speed, and the vampire grace that kept drawing Zara’s attention despite the circumstances. His agility and power was breathtaking as he spun, leaping off his feet and slamming fists, elbows, and feet into his opponents, dropping most and forcing others to retreat as Zara tried to pick them off.

Then she had no more time to keep an eye on him. She had her own hands full, as the men in the transport she’d targeted raced to the rear of the craft, where they fired back at her. Most of the shots slammed into the walls on either side of the tunnel where she lay; the mechs were unable to see exactly where she was because of the camouflage.

If she didn’t keep them ducking, they’d be able to target her by shooting toward her fire. She had to keep rolling from side to side to keep them from homing in on her.

The firing trailed off a moment, and Zara scanned for targets. She tensed, spotting a man darting toward Rand. Her bolt sliced across the front of his mask, and he screamed, hitting the floor in a tumbling roll.

Zara frowned, wondering if her blast had really done any damage. Then a shot hissed over her head, missing her by centimeters, and she forgot about her last target in favor of returning fire. By the time she looked for the man again, he was gone.

Zara rolled again. Just in time; another shot hissed through the spot where she’d just been.
They’re zeroing in on me
, she thought.

It wouldn’t be long before she would have to fall back, take cover in another tunnel where she’d be less vulnerable.

She swung her rifle back toward the other craft, where Rand still fought its defenders, alternating pistol fire between ferocious blows. Blood sprayed from one man’s helmet, and he went down hard.
That one won’t be getting up
, she thought in grim pleasure as she fired at one of the men trying to get to safety behind the transport.

At least she was keeping the attackers from the second transport from giving Rand any trouble. It seemed none of them quite had the guts to try to cross the open floor with Zara waiting to shoot them.

Spotting a man trying for Rand, she fired, taking him high on the chest. Unfortunately, the bolt was deflected by his armor, and he kept moving.

Rand leaped up, flashing into one of those incredibly graceful moves vamps did so well. The roundhouse kick took down two Godssonists who’d had the bad judgment to try to come after him side by side. Pieces of both helmets flew as the attackers dropped.

Zara was drawing a bead on another of the fighters when she saw a flurry of movement in the corner of one eye. She jerked her head around just in time to see a boot coming right at her face.

Light exploded behind her eyes and she screamed as blood flew from her nose. She flipped over onto her back, trying to roll away from the shot the man was probably about to fire into her skull.

Instead she felt hard hands grab her by the arms and jerk her right up off the ground. The rifle flew from her hands. He dragged her out of the tunnel, despite her efforts to jerk away. He was just too damned strong in his mechsuit.

“Now, bloodwhore, let’s go have a talk with your fanged boyfriend.”

Zara’s blood ran cold in her veins. She’d recognize that voice anywhere:
Lordsvengeance
.

Somehow she got one eye open despite the radiating pain from her broken nose. His faceplate had a furrow burned across it, and she realized he was the man she’d hit with the glancing shot. “I almost got you, you bastard!”

“Almost isn’t good enough, you little slut. And you will pay for it, believe me.” Something cold and circular pressed against the underside of her jaw: the muzzle of a plasma pistol.

He hauled her across the floor toward Rand. Her skull throbbed viciously with every step, and she wondered why his booted foot hadn’t taken her head right off. Evidently he must’ve pulled the blow.

“Get out of the way!” Lordsvengeance bellowed at the Godssonists between him and Rand. Startled, they scuttled aside. The colonel shoved the pistol hard against her jaw. “Surrender, you bloodsucking bastard, or I’ll blow your slut’s head off!”

Rand froze, staring at them, horror on his face.

“Good job, Sir!” one of the men yelled. It sounded like Zara’s would be rapist, Godshammer. “You got the bitch!”

“I’m not joking, fucker,” Lordsvengeance snarled, ignoring his son-in-law. “Throw down that pistol.”

Looking at Rand’s anguished face, Zara could almost read the thoughts flickering through his mind. The whole counteroffensive would collapse if he were captured.

“Now!” Lordsvengeance’s voice spiraled into a shriek as he dug the pistol harder into Zara’s jaw. “You’ve got about three seconds before I do something your slut will not recover from!”

Rand’s gaze met hers, and she realized he was going to give up. For her. “No!” she screamed. “He’ll just kill me anyway!”

And Rand and Adela, too, once his mother surrendered -- as she’d do. The mercenaries she’d hired were unlikely to go on fighting once Adela was dead. Even worse, Lordsvengeance might be able to step right into Godsson’s shoes and continue the invasion. This whole thing would be for nothing.

But if Lordsvengeance killed her now, Rand would survive. And he’d make damn sure her killer would not.

“I’m not kidding, fucker!” the colonel screamed, jamming the pistol into her face so hard, she couldn’t suppress a scream. “If you don’t…”

Before he could finish, Zara stepped aside, grabbed the muzzle of his pistol with her right hand, jerked it out of his hand, and drove her elbow into his faceplate. It shattered, her V.S.S. strength and reinforced bones crushing his skull in an explosion of bone, blood and brain.

Zara tore free as Lordsvengeance fell, armor clattering on the cavern’s stone floor. At the same instant, Rand spun and leaped, grabbed the back of Godshammer’s neck, and slammed the lieutenant’s head down into his lifted knee. Faceplate and skull crunched.

The vampire threw him aside and leaped into a whirling, enraged flurry of kicks and punches that took down five men in rapid succession.

Around him, rifles hit the ground as the remaining Godssonists threw their hands up in surrender. “We surrender! Don’t kill us!”

Rand snatched up the nearest fallen rifle and covered them. “Get the neurocuffs,” he growled at Zara.

Grinning in giddy joy, she obeyed her vampire dominant.

* * *

Zara and Rand forced the survivors to strip off their armor at gunpoint, leaving them only their thin skin-suits. She held a rifle on them while he Rand cuffed the eight survivors, including the four wounded, none of whom were in any condition to resist. Her head ached savagely, but she planned to make use of Rand’s medkit as soon as their last prisoner was restrained.

Headache notwithstanding, she and Rand had survived. No wonder Zara was having so much trouble maintaining a stern expression. She was feeling a little too damned happy.

As she watched the prisoners, Rand placed a set of portable force field projection disks around them. The cage the projectors created would keep the Godssonists out of trouble until Adela’s mercenaries could send a transport to pick them up.

The moment the field popped into being, Rand turned and took three long steps toward her. She went into his arms with a moan of delight. He kissed her, his lips hot, demanding, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, stroking and sweet.

By the time they drew back, they were both panting. “Bet the prisoners enjoyed that show,” Zara joked, though in fact, she didn’t particularly give a damn. Thanks to Rand, the Godssonists no longer mattered.

“Give me some credit,” he rumbled. “I’ve got the field keyed so they can’t see through it. Though we can damn well see them.”

“Good,” she said, and rose on her toes to take his mouth again.

When they finally had to separate long enough to breathe, Zara managed, “I have a confession to make.”

He grinned down at her wickedly. “I hope it’s about some particularly kinky sexual activity you’d like to do with me.”

“Close.” Feeling vulnerable and a little shy, she smiled. “The reason I took the chance of jumping Lordsvengeance wasn’t because I knew he was going to kill me otherwise, or even because I wanted to save Falara.” She stroked her fingers over his cheeks. “Not that those things weren’t a factor. It was because I wanted to save you more than anything else. I think…” She bit her lip. “I think I’m falling in love with you. The thought of you dying hurts too damn much for it to be anything else.”

Joy flared in his golden eyes, so brilliant as to be almost incandescent. “Thank you,” he breathed. “God, thank you. I will take care of your heart, Zara Tahir.”

She smiled. “And I’ll take care of yours.”

* * *

Six Months Later

Rand studied Zara with wicked appreciation. His new wife was gorgeously naked, dressed only in a pair of float restraints around her wrists, ankles and forehead.

He’d used them to arrange her deliciously naked body in midair, bent and spread wide to give him maximum access to the sweet ass he intended to torment and enjoy. He’d attached a pair of stimulant clips to her nipples. She moaned softly as they created the sensations she was being licked and suckled, alternating, with varying degrees of pressure from pleasant to stinging.

But it was the ecstasy cat he was most looking forward to using. Unlike those of a real cat o’ nine tails, the whip’s nine lashes were thin neurostim fields that allowed the user to create sensations of pain or pleasure at his whim. Snaking holograms showed the location of each lash, which could also be combined or stiffened for various erotic effects.

Rand liked to keep the focus on pleasure -- depending, of course, on Zara’s needs. Still, an ecstasy cat was a tricky toy to play with, requiring constant adjustments and careful monitoring of the bloodsub’s reactions. Luckily, Rand was a master with it.

And they had all the time to play they needed. They were, after all, on their honeymoon.

Besides, they’d earned it. They’d had to work hard the last six months, helping his mother get the Rand Falaran Foundation up and running. Then there’d been the challenge of rebuilding a planet devastated by two years of looting and war. So when Rand and Zara had spotted the opportunity to get married and escape for a week, they’d been more than ready.

Now it was playtime.

Rand shook the whip out and watched the holographic lashes curl across the floor. The cat produced a convincing slithering sound. It was designed to simulate the noise real leather would make.

“Ready, love?” he purred.

Her beautiful ass cheeks flexed deliciously at the sound of his voice. Her bent pose spread her labia and displayed her pink, tightly puckered anus. He eyed them lecherously.

“Does it matter?” she asked, her tone arch.

Rand grinned wickedly. “Not really.” He brought his arm around and down to lay the lash across that deliciously fuckable ass.

Zara jumped as the wave of hot delight rolled across her skin everywhere the lashes touched. Her gasp made his cock twitch hard behind his fly. Thumbing the butt of the whip, he added a slight sting to the mix and aimed his next shot directly at her waiting asshole.

Imagining that little anus stretching reluctantly wide around his steel hard cock, Rand grinned in anticipation.

He was going to give it a reaming his luscious little wife would never forget.

Then, while he pumped her full of cum, he was going to sink his fangs into that swan throat. And make her climax so hard she’d see stars.

* * *

Zara moaned in delight as her new husband flicked the cat’s lashes upward, directly into her spread labia. One of them hit her clit, sending such a hot jolt of pleasure up her spine, she couldn’t bite back her scream.