Fugitive (38 page)

   "She is difficult," Cat murmured to Lester. "Your talents may not be enough to control her."

   Lester's hands moved even faster.

   "Quit trying to use your wavy little hands on my mind!" Jack growled. "We'll eat whatever Klog cooks."

   Lester's hands stopped. "She
was
difficult," he said to Cat.

   "You didn't make me change my mind!" Jack exclaimed. "I changed it all by myself."

   Leo seemed to be trying to suppress a chuckle but wasn't completely successful. Jack rounded on him. "And since when are you so darn picky, Leo?"

   "Let's just say I'm looking forward to a change," he replied.

   Jack rolled her eyes. "Now, Manx, I can understand. He's probably been eating raw fish and birds for years, but you guys are well fed all the time."

   "I wouldn't mind eating something different for a change, but, actually, I like raw fish," Manx said sheepishly.

   "Then you're gonna love sushi!" Drusilla exclaimed. "I know this great little restaurant down by the spaceport back home—"

   "So, I'm really going there with you?" Manx blurted out, obviously still not believing it was really going to happen.

   Drusilla just stared at him in open-mouthed disbelief.

   "I believe the correct response to that is 'Do bees be? Do bears bear?'" Cat murmured to Drusilla.

   "What?" Drusilla said, startled out of her shock. "What in the world does that mean?"

   "Ask Jacinth," Cat said. "She has a million of them."

   Jack grinned. "I just love researching old figures of speech."

   "And curse words," Cat added. "She knows a million of those too."

   "You should talk to Zef," Manx told Jack. "He's something of a connoisseur himself."

   "He sure is," Drusilla seconded. "Like I said before, you two have a lot in common. I think yours will be a visit he'll remember fondly for the rest of his life." Drusilla then took Manx's hand and kissed it firmly. "If you think I'm leaving you here just so you can catch fish for Zef, you can forget about it. You can teach Klog how to spearfish and then you're coming back to Earth with me if I have to tie you up and drag you."

   "Got some chains if you want them," Jack said help fully. "But I don't think you'll need them."

   "No, she won't," Manx said, taking Drusilla in his arms. "Unless she tries to keep me away."

   "Won't ever want to do that," Drusilla murmured, pulling him down for a kiss. "But if you ever run away like that again, I
will
tie you up."

   Manx grinned. "I promise not to," he said, "but having you tie me up sounds… interesting."

   "Won't be any need for him to run away," Jack said briskly. "Nedwuts can't land on Earth." She glanced meaningfully at Lester. "And we have guns—big ones—to make sure they don't."

   Lester shook his head sadly. "Such a waste of resources! Think how much food could be grown for the hungry people of the galaxy if so much wasn't spent on implements of war."

   "I hear you, Lester," Jack said. "But until you can control all the bad guys, the good guys will have to fight now and then. We don't all have your talents for keeping the peace."

   "While you are here on this world, you will know peace," Lester said. "It was one reason we decided to open our world to others, to demonstrate that all can live in harmony."

   "Yes, but you have the mind-control thing going for you," Drusilla pointed out. "Without that, you'd be just like any other world."

   "True," said Lester. "But we are thankful that we are not. Such talents as mine are rarely needed among our own people." He smiled broadly, adding, "And, hope fully, not among our guests."

   "We'll be good," Tisana assured Lester. "But thanks for the food, anyway. Jack will eat anything!"

   "Picky, picky,
picky,"
said Jack.

Chapter 21

DINNER THAT EVENING WAS QUITE AN EVENT. KLOG WAS IN his element and put on a lavish feast that had everyone raving. Even Jack admitted that it had Suerlin marching rations beat all to hell and back. Drusilla and Manx felt as though they now had a large family, complete with good-natured bickering and fun.

   Later that night, Drusilla went out on the deck to find Manx waiting for her. Cat, Jack, Leo, and Tisana were down by the lake. The sun had already set, sending deep purple shadows across the beach where the two couples lay in the shelter of each other's arms.

   "How are they?" Manx asked, gesturing toward the house.

   "Dwell is telling them stories, and Klog is fussing over them like a mother hen," she replied. "Together they make a good baby-sitting team." Sighing deeply, she added, "I don't think I've ever seen cuter kids in my life."

   "Would you like some of your own?" Manx murmured, his voice suggestive, but at the same time, warm and sincere. Just the thought of having children with Drusilla was turning his heart to mush, and he pulled her into his arms, breathing in her scent and purring softly.

   "Yes," she replied. "But only if they're yours."

   Manx felt the stinging sensation in his eyes. "I never thought I'd get the chance to have any. This life I've led… I never dreamed it would turn out this way."

   "Better get used to it," Drusilla warned. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again as long as I live."

   Manx sighed, and his purring grew deeper in timbre. "I can live with that."

   "Jack says she'll give me a pulse pistol of my very own once we leave here," Drusilla went on. "She says she shoots Nedwuts on sight. Hopefully, I won't have to, but—"

   "We still don't know where the money for the bounty is coming from," Manx said. "Jack says we'll be safe on Earth or on Terra Minor, but it doesn't matter to me where we go, as long as we are together and our children can grow up safe and strong."

   "That sounds so amazing," Drusilla whispered. "All this time, I've done nothing but paint, and having chil dren seemed like something only other women do."

   "Are you ready for that?"

   "I think so," Drusilla replied. "If not, I'll have plenty of time to adjust to the idea. Kids don't pop up over night, you know."

   Manx grimaced and let out a deep breath. "Um, just in case you haven't figured it out, there will be three of them."

   "I know," Drusilla said. "Every time?"

   Manx nodded. "Nearly always in litters of three."

   "That's pretty handy now that there are so few of you, but you guys must have had quite a population problem on Zetith."

   "Not really," said Manx. "It usually only happens once, sometimes twice."

"Is that your fault, or the female's?"

   Manx paused for a moment to sort out his reply. "I've never been sure," he said. "The women would tell you they were incapable of having more than one or two litters, but they were never as willing to have more as Terran females seem to be."

   "You mean you only have sex once or twice?" Drusilla said, aghast.

   Manx couldn't help but smile. "No, but multiple litters weren't commonplace," he said. "Though Jack and Cat seem to have overcome that obstacle."

   "Having triplets is enough to make any woman not want to do it again, I suppose," Drusilla said reflectively. "Maybe they used a form of birth control you men didn't know about."

   "Perhaps," Manx conceded. "But you may have as many as you want." Purring contentedly, he added, "I promise to do my part with enthusiasm." Glancing down toward the beach, which was now fully dark, he said wickedly,
"They
are."

   "Right now?" Drusilla gasped. "How can you tell?"

   "My senses are sharper than yours," Manx replied.

   "Can see pretty well in the dark, huh?"

   Manx nodded.

   "What are they doing, exactly?"

   Turning to look more closely, he said, "Tisana and Leo are swimming, but Jack and Cat are on the boat."

   "Don't suppose any of them are wearing swimsuits, are they?"

   "Uh, no, they aren't."

   "You've been wearing clothes ever since you came back," Drusilla pointed out.

"Don't like that, do you?" Manx purred.

"Not really," Drusilla admitted.

   "Think they're asleep yet?" Manx asked with a nod toward the door.

   "I'd bet on it. Dwell was telling them some Baradan fairy tale in the most soporific voice I've ever heard. And if they need anything, Klog will know what to do. I'd
still
like to know how he does that."

   "Part of his charm," Manx said. "Guess he'll come down and get one of us if we're needed."

   "I'll tell Dwell," Drusilla said. "But not until we get downstairs. If I tell him now, I might wake one of them."

   "Wouldn't want to do that," Manx agreed. "I'm looking forward to a moonlight swim."

   "So I noticed," Drusilla said archly as her hand slid to his groin. "Your purring sounds different too."

   "What would you like to do?"

   "Swim and then make love on the beach," she replied. "Er, no, make love, and then swim. Or both, or either."

   Manx put an end to her dilemma with a deep kiss. Closing her eyes, Drusilla melted into him as her arms drifted up to encircle his neck. As Manx swept her off her feet and headed for the stairs, he murmured, "We'll make it up as we go along."

   Reaching the lower level, Drusilla gave instructions to Dwell while Manx snagged a towel from the shelf and then carried his mate down to the shore.

   As he reached the water's edge, he made a quick decision—one that didn't require very much thought. "Make love now, swim later," he said, flinging the towel on the sand.

   For the first time, Drusilla experienced the erotic pleasure of stripping the clothes from her lover's body, seeking his bare skin to kiss and caress. "I've missed you so," she said, a sob beginning to form in her throat. "Have you ever felt like all you were doing was breathing? That your life didn't matter anymore?"

   Manx nodded. "Every moment I was away from you," he replied. "Leaving you was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I will never do it again."

   Drusilla sighed blissfully. "I certainly hope not," she said. "I don't think I could take it. It was great for painting, but really hard on the rest of me." Lightly caressing his cheek, she added, "And I didn't like having to paint you from memory. A live model is so much more—" She broke off there, unable to come up with a word that described the way she felt about painting the real Manx.

   Manx grinned. "Inspiring?"

   "That and so much more," Drusilla replied as their lips met. As always, the fusion of their lips and tongues set fires burning within each of them—fires unquench able by anything other than their union as lovers.

***

Meanwhile, back on the boat, Cat was on his hands and knees fucking his wife's hungry mouth while he savored her creamy slit. His cock felt good no matter where he put it in his Jacinth's body, but this was the best place to start. It drove her completely wild, and then when she was about to catch fire, he'd turn around and bury his cock in her. She liked it all, and so did he.

Cat's nuts were hanging right at eye level and Jack

was enjoying the view as much as the taste and feel of his hot, meaty dick. The way she saw it, the only disad vantage to this position was that she couldn't tell him how good it was. She'd tell him later, like she always did, but in the meantime, moaning was about all she could do. Then he began fucking her with his tongue and her moans got even louder.

***

Loud enough for Leo to hear them from where he was standing a little way up the shore in water up to his chest while he floated his bewitching wife up and down on his stiff cock. He tried to swirl his hard meat inside his wife's slick body, but the sight of Tisana laid back in the water with her arms outstretched, her hair floating in the water, and her lovely breasts reflecting the moonlight had Leo's penis so hard he was having trouble moving it. "I'm really stiff," he muttered.

   "You think?" Tisana giggled.

   "No, I mean
too
stiff," Leo explained. "I can't get it to move the way it should."

   "Do you hear me complaining?"

   Leo smiled. "You never do," he said. "But there's always a first time."

   "Let's move up on the beach a little," Tisana suggested, suppressing another chuckle. "I want to be able to lie back and not get water in my ears."

   Leo didn't hesitate to comply because he wanted to put a little more power behind what he was doing, anyway. Upon reaching the shore, he hooked his arms under Tisana's knees, lifted her up, and drove in hard, slamming into her while his nuts bounced against her ass. He wasn't sure he liked doing it underwater; the lake water had been washing away his lubrication, and he didn't want Tisana to get sore—aside from the fact that she wasn't having as many orgasms as she normally did.

   Crying out in ecstasy as the full, undiluted effect of Leo's cock syrup overcame her, Tisana begged for more, and Leo was more than willing to fulfill her wishes.

   "I want to keep going all night," he whispered. "I can never get enough of you, Tisana. Never." Wanting to see more of her, he raised upright on his knees, pulling her feet up to rest on his shoulders. Slowing down, he finally regained some control of his cock and let it play inside her the way she loved. Her smooth, creamy pussy wrapped around his shaft in a firm hug as it swirled and stimulated, adding fuel to the fire that the vision before him ignited. "I may not be able to go all night," he gasped. "I—" His nuts tightened and would have driven him in harder, but his back arched and he lost his balance in the sand, flipping his cock out of her core and spraying her with his snard.

   "Sorry," he said, laughing as he got back to his knees. Then he looked down at Tisana with his cream splat tered all over her and came again.

   "Obviously you like what you're seeing," Tisana said. "Do I look that good covered in snard?"

   Leo gulped in air to reply, but his cock had other ideas and went off again, this time shooting out an arc that landed on her face. He felt another climax begin to build and made an inarticulate plea for help.