Burning Love [Flights of Fancy 1] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (9 page)

A sense of relief swept over her, and she returned his smile. "Other than a bit of a headache, no. You feel so cold, though."

"Yes, that's not normal for me. The Rangor are trying to prevent me from using my powers against them." He sighed. "They know this will work, too."

"Rangor? Is that who these people are?"

"Yes."

"This is not the sort of thing I would expect from animals." Her addled brain seemed to work well enough to tie all the facts and suspicions she had together. "You need to level with me, Krell."

He managed to work himself up to sit on the edge of the cot. "Yes, I do." He took a deep breath. "The situation is complicated, but the Hendri and Rangor are the same species. The Council long ago favored the Hendri, the city-dwellers, and gave us the pyrokinetic powers so we could rule the world and the Rangor."

"The Council? Who are they?"

"The elders of our world, the leaders."

Her head swam with the new facts, and no small amount of questions about Krell's motivations. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"Because the Council wants you to help us, the Hendri, leave this world to escape the Rangor." He paused, his eyes watching her closely. "I wanted to tell you, but the Council ordered otherwise."

"So why tell me now?"

He laughed. "The Rangor have clearly decided to make their move now. We hoped they would wait so we could leave, but they have other ideas." He sighed, a raspy breath pulsing from his lungs. "Besides, it doesn't matter now."

A foreboding filled her. Much like Spence's fatalistic views of the universe, something about Krell's attitude frightened her. "Why not?"

He shrugged. "Because the Council will have destroyed your ship by now."

"What?"

"The Council will destroy
Daedalus
to prevent word of the situation here getting out and ruining any chance of our escaping." He stared at her for several seconds. "I so wanted things to end differently for you and I, Star."

Her heart leapt between racing and nearly stopped. The thought of
Daedalus
and her crew gone was unthinkable. "I think your Council will find destroying
Daedalus
easier said than done. Captain Davis will get the ship to safety."

Krell only shook his head. "The Council will set the ship to burn. The ship and crew will die."

She didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it. But then it occurred to her that compared to the ship and crew, the landing party would be expendable. The lives of ten people on the planet were not worth risking the ship and lives of more than 800 crewmembers. No matter what else, the events would leave her and the others stranded here.

Krell watched her for a moment. "There is something else that doesn't matter now."

The laugh that jumped from her throat sounded more like a bark. "Oh, there's good news!"

"Perhaps so, perhaps not." He shrugged. "I have fallen in love with you, Star, though it's not the kind of love humans imagine."

"What in the fuck are you talking about?"

"We, humans and Hendri, could never have physical love, but there is more."

She shook her head. The effects of the blow clearly hadn't worn off. Maybe on top of being stuck on an alien world to die she had a concussion. "You're crazy."

"Of that there is little doubt." He smiled. "Let me show you something." Star still knelt beside the cot, and Krell placed his hand on her forehead, his long fingers feeling unnaturally cool against her skin. "You see, one of the things the Council wanted kept from you are some of the innate abilities we have."

The pain in her head vanished, not fading, but like turning off a light switch, it was just gone. Replacing the pain was a feeling of quiet solitude, a peace like she'd never known before. A simple relaxation washed over her, and Star's worries seemed to drift off into the distance, not forgotten, but placed in perspective.

At the same time, her body responded to the gentle waves of tenderness washing over her mind. From out of nowhere, she felt her pussy moistening, and a climax moved slowly towards her as Krell probed deep in her thoughts.

In some ways, the feeling wasn't unlike the safety she felt last night in Spence's arms, the knowledge that he would protect her from harm. In the clouds of sensations billowing inside her, Star also connected the pleasure to when Spence made love to her, his cock sliding slowly inside her, but Krell's face filled her mind's eye.

She knew she should pull away, break the contact with the long, soft fingers touching her head to end the thing Krell did to her, whatever it was. But the pleasure centers in her mind and body had control now, and Star could no more pull away from Krell than she could have left Spence hard and frustrated on the couch last night. Whatever this was, she wanted to see it through to the end, and she wanted Krell as badly as she wanted Spence.

Her mind swam with a jumble of images and thoughts, flicking between Krell, his skin hot as a stove, brushing his soft lips over her cheek, followed by Spence staring down into her face as he mounted her, his vision seeing only her. The remembrance of Spence's hands moving over her hair and his hips gently thrusting his cock between her lips morphed into Krell's large eyes watching her as he somehow stroked her mind, stimulating her like no cock, fingers, or tongue in her pussy ever could.

The tangled mass of visions drove her to the edge, and without warning her orgasm closed in around her, her body shaking and jerking as she moaned and panted. She realized that Krell pulled his fingers from her brow and wrapped his arms around her, but the waves of pleasure still cascaded over her, and he held her as she trembled.

When her shakes subsided a little, he lifted her chin with his fingertips until she looked up into the dark eyes. A sad smile played over his lips. "You see, Star, there are many ways to make love."

* * * *

Spence ran through the building, but he didn't know where he was going. He checked Krell's office, fully intending to kill the lying fuck, but he found the office empty and trashed. He found several burns on the walls, and one of the chairs was a mound of slag like something dumped from a blast furnace at the end of the work day.

He was objective enough to know he was more or less just running because he didn't know what else to do. His communicator chirped, and he tongued the control in his helmet to answer.

"Spencer."

"Major, this is Corporal Douglas. Sergeant Kyle asked me to advise you that we've reached the landing craft. We have the area secured, and I'm working on contacting
Daedalus
now."

"Well done, Douglas. Any word from Star?"

"No, Sir, not a word."

He thought for a moment. "Put Ensign Harvey on."

After a moment, Debi's voice came through. "Yes, Sir?"

"Debi, can you get anything on the sensors? Something that might tell me where Star is?" He paused. "Or Krell."

"I've been working on that, but no luck so far. I do have a large group of Rangor located, though."

"Where?"

"That's the part that bugs me. The readings can't be right, because it shows them inside the capital building."

"What?" Spence thought furiously. How would the Rangor get inside in any numbers? Getting a small group in to kidnap Star was easy, but the Hendri would see a large group. Unless they had inside help. "What about Krell?"

"Nothing on him."

"OK, where are these Rangor?"

"Best I can give you is on the northeast end of the third floor."

"Good enough. Can Kyle hear me?"

"Kyle here, Sir."

"Sergeant, your first priority is the safety of your personnel. If there is any threat to them or the LC, you will lift off and make for
Daedalus
."

"Understood, Major. Godspeed." 

Star couldn't decide if she was pissed off, scared, in love, brain damaged, or just plain confused. She was an officer in His Majesty's Star Fleet, and she should be looking for a way to get out of here, wherever here was. Instead, she kept thinking about the two men who made love to her in the last twenty-four hours.

One of them touched her physically in ways she'd never been touched before. Earlier today, she knew that she'd fell right off the cliff and was in freefall for Spence. It would only be a matter of time until she would tell him she loved him. She had enough experience with men to believe that he would likely never be able to open up emotionally to her.

The other touched her mind and emotions like she never knew possible. She suspected Krell could do much more than what he showed her. She couldn't deny the attraction she felt for him since the first moment she met him. She knew enough about Hendri to believe they could never share true physical love.

Along with the confusion at her inability to focus on the real problems she faced, Star felt guilt closing in around her. She made love to two men in less than a day. She could have stopped either of them, or both, but she didn't. She wasn't sure who she cheated on, but she was certain she cheated on at least one of them.

Maybe
, she thought,
I really cheated on myself.

That was probably it. She got greedy and now was paying the price with guilt pangs.

The real problem was that she wanted them both. The thought of making love to Spence and Krell at the same time triggered a series of fantasy images she knew were totally out of place.

* * * *

"Deflectors at 38% and falling, Harbison Field at green with blue flecks, Captain."

Elsa shifted in her command chair. "Time to Field collapse?"

The tactical officer studied the instruments for a moment. "Eighty-six minutes, Ma'am."

"Thank you. Communications, anything?"

"No, Ma'am."

She nodded. "Science, any luck?"

"I have the source of the energy waves narrowed a bit, but it still covers the entire city."

"Tactical, what would be the collateral damage of firing on the city with a cluster of torpedoes?"

The officer glanced at Harris for a split second. "Probably two million civilian casualties, Captain."

Chris spoke up from the damage control console. "The mission manual prohibits that kind of collateral, Captain."

"Noted, Commander."

Elsa stared at her status board. With each passing minute, more and more systems failed or went marginal. She wasn't willing to leave ten people on the planet below, but she couldn't risk her ship and crew, either.

She took a deep breath. "Science, I need that target isolated better. Tactical, I need a tighter cluster on the torpedoes. Helm, prepare to leave orbit at maximum thrust in seventy-five minutes."

A chorus of confirmations echoed through the bridge as the crew set to work.

* * * *

The clicking of the door lock jolted Star out of her ruminations. An alien stepped inside, and while he looked like a Hendri, she somehow knew this was a Rangor.

"I am Harnlan." His English was understandable, but not nearly as good as Krell's. "We mean you no harm."

"Then why am I a captive?" She stood from her cot, but didn't approach the man. Her head hadn't started hurting again, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"For your own safety. The Council can't reach you here."

That hadn't occurred to her. If the Council could reach across hundreds of kilometers of space to burn
Daedalus
, why couldn't they reach her? Too distracted. She pushed the thoughts of Krell and Spence down in her mind. "Where is the rest of my landing party?"

Harnlan glanced at Krell, then back to her. "Eight are safe in the small ship you came to the planet in. The other is on his way here."

Her heart raced again. She knew it was Spence, coming after her. Only he would be crazy enough to come alone. Star pushed her emotions down again; she needed to focus. "What of
Daedalus
?"

"The ship is not destroyed, though the Council is attacking it and will destroy it soon."

A ruckus in another room announced what she knew was Spence's arrival. Star heard him yelling, again in that special voice Marines used for command.

"Get down! Get down, mother fucker, or I'll blow your fucking head off!"

She heard no shots, though.

"Spence! In here!"

When Spence charged into the cell, Harnlan's only reaction was to raise his long arms over his head.

"On the floor, shithead!"

Harnlan slowly knelt, then sprawled facedown on the floor.

Spence stood in the door, loaded for bandersnatch, and stared at her. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm OK." Other than her heart trying to fly from her chest and fighting the urge to throw herself against him, she didn't lie.

Only then did he look at Krell. The look in Spence's eyes frightened her. It spoke of mayhem and death. Star opened her mouth to speak, but Spence simply held his palm out towards her. He spun the rifle around and over his shoulder until it clicked into the holster on his back. Taking two steps forward, he looked up into Krell's eyes.

"You worthless fuck. I should kill you now, but I won't."

Krell didn't back down. "I am not the one you need to fear."

"That's good, because you don't scare me."

"There are those we should fear, though."

"Yeah. You need to fear me." Spence struck out and up with his fist, connecting with Krell's jaw.

She wasn't totally sure, but Star thought Krell's feet left the floor with the force of the impact. He crumpled to his knees, and looked up at Spence, pale pink blood running from the corner of his mouth.

Krell wiped at the blood before he spoke. "You and I know what this is really about, don't we? I doubt we can say the same for Star. Be that as it may, we must put our personal conflict aside and see to her safety."