Knights of Desire [Flights of Fancy 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (8 page)

He took her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, and Landis squeezed hard as he rolled the rigid nub. A shockwave of pleasure shot through Shane, and for the first time since the kiss began, she pulled her lips from his, and a scream of delight leapt from her mouth. Her head lolled back, and he kissed her neck, nibbling and licking from her shoulder to her ear, where his tongue flitted wildly.

While he kissed her neck, Landis moved his hands to work the jumpsuit from her shoulders, and it slipped down around her waist until he unfastened her gun belt and pushed it and the suit past her hips to fall to the ground. When he lifted her in his arms, Shane kicked the suit from her feet. He carried her like she massed nothing at all, and placed her on a pile of leaves in the shade of a large tree. Despite her total trust of Landis, a small wave of fear hit her when he pulled the dagger from its sheath at his hip. He moved quickly, first slicing the material between the cups of her bra and then that of her panties, leaving her naked on the forest floor. With a casual flick of his wrist, his eyes never leaving hers, he threw the knife, and it buried itself in the trunk of a tree some ten meters away.

Landis pulled the silky white shirt from his body and leaned to kiss her lips. The touch was soft and gentle, like the fleeting passage of a butterfly. He pulled away to look into her eyes again.

A small smile graced his lips. "Shane, you are so very beautiful."

She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. Maybe it was the way his green eyes seemed to pin her in place, or maybe it was wetness in her pussy that prevented her from finding anything to say to him.

He raised himself up onto his knees and released the buckle of the belt that held his sword at its familiar place on his side. Landis tossed the weapon and belt to the side, and then he worked his pants down and slipped them off, tossing them to join his sword.

His cock stood out like a pole, straight and hard, as he knelt beside her, and she found the flow of moisture in her mouth matched that in her pussy. He again leaned to her, and his tongue swirled around her hard nipple as he rubbed the other with one hand. His other hand moved down her body, brushing lightly over her stomach until it reached her wet slit.

His fingers dipped into her wetness, and his thumb pressed against her clit, rubbing and flicking the hard button. He pinched her nipple with his other hand. Shane knew her passions were high, and his actions had pushed her far along the way, but she didn't expect that when Landis bit firmly on her other nipple her orgasm would hit her so fast.

She screamed out loud, just a string of incoherent noise, as her back arched high off the floor of the woods and her body jerked in the spasms of her climax. As she writhed, Landis fingered her pussy ever deeper, and he chewed gently on her nipple. As he pressed his hand hard on her clit, Shane's hips bucked against him, and her vision clouded with bright lights that seemed to swim in and out of both existence and focus.

When he pulled his hand from her flowing pussy and released his grip on her nipples with his hand and mouth, Shane flopped back to the ground, her breath racing from her throat in gasping pants. He reclined beside her, and his hard cock pressed firmly against her hip. Shane pushed him onto his back and leaned over him, her tongue tracing the length of his cock from his balls up to swirl around the bulging head. When she sucked the head into her mouth, he flinched and he wrapped his fingers in her hair.

Instead of forcing her head down onto his dick, Landis pulled her away, his cock making a wet popping sound when it slipped from between her lips.

He took a deep breath and smiled. "No, not like that."

Landis gripped her hips and lifted her from the ground, only to lower her onto him, straddling his hips. His hard dick rubbed delightfully between the lips of her pussy, and Shane leaned forward to kiss his lips. The wonderful explosion of his flavor again filled her mouth, and she flexed her hips slightly. The head of his cock slipped over her clit, making her jerk, and then he entered her, his girth spreading her wide and his length filling her fully.

She sat up, taking him deep inside her pussy, and Landis moaned softly. Rocking her hips, Shane rode his cock and her moans joined his.

His eyes fluttered closed, and he tensed under her. Landis grasped her hips tightly in his hands, and he thrust up, slamming his balls tight against her ass.

His cock twitched and pulsed in her pussy, and his hot cum exploded deep inside of her. She bounced on him as he climaxed, his hips moving like a bull trying to throw a rider, but she stayed in the saddle and rode him until Landis collapsed back onto the floor of the forest with sweat pouring from his body and tremors rocking him.

She leaned forward again and kissed him softly, his softening cock slipping from her pussy. Shane rested her head on his big shoulder and kissed tenderly at his neck.

His arms slipped around her shoulders, hugging her closely to his chest.

"I didn't want that to happen so soon." Landis sighed a little. "It's been more than seven years since I was with a woman."

"Hush." She put her fingers on his lips, and he kissed them. "You have nothing to explain or be sorry about."

Shane knew she was, like all Marines, a bundle of trained reflexes and nerves. She couldn't turn off the reflexes, not even in the afterglow of making love. A small noise, maybe the snapping of a stick under a foot, or perhaps the scraping of dry leaves against a boot, caught her attention, and she reacted instantly and without thought. She rolled from atop Landis, getting her bearings, only to realize too late her weapon lay under the pile of her jumpsuit eight meters away.

She glanced at Landis, and he sat calmly on the ground, staring past her. When she followed his gaze, Shane saw Clemmons standing at the edge of the small clearing, his eyes wide as he stared at her and her lover, who also happened to be his lover.

* * * *

Clemmons didn't feel as shocked or as angry as he thought he might have been. After all, he just caught his lover of the past six years having sex with a woman. He should be shocked and angry.

One problem was he was more or less expecting this to happen. Maybe he didn't expect exactly this, though. Clemmons actually expected he would be the one to end up bedding Shane. He knew he found Shane attractive, and Landis admitted the same feelings. Clemmons just thought he would be first.

The other problem was he couldn't really be angry with Landis for doing what he himself considered. That wasn't fair.

While Clemmons wasn't really shocked and couldn't find it in himself to be angry, it still hurt.

Landis stood, making no attempt to cover his cock. Sweat glistened on his body, and the juices from Shane's pussy still glittered on his limp dick. He made no move to approach Clemmons when he spoke. "You may not believe me, but I planned to tell you about this, and I love you."

Shane didn't attempt to rise from her kneeling position and covered her breasts with her arms. "I don't know what to say."

Clemmons nodded. "I'm not sure there is anything to say. I actually do believe you, Landis. I know you love me, and I love you."

Landis smiled and walked toward him. "I know we have some things to talk about and work out." Landis hugged him, and it felt as good as it ever did. In a word, it was wonderful.

Clemmons closed his eyes, feeling the warmth and safety of his lover's arms around him. He heard a strange sound from Shane's direction, and he wondered if she might be sneaking away into the woods or going after her clothes.

He opened his eyes to see Shane hadn't moved and a lizard swooped down from the sky, its claws extended to grab her from behind.

* * * *

At best, Shane was puzzled. At worst, she had that old
what-the-fuck
feeling. She grabbed the translator from where it had been next to her and Landis when they made love, hoping that understanding their words would let her understand the situation. Clemmons seemed to be taking the fact that his lover or life-partner or whoever had just fucked her very well—much better than any human she'd ever heard of would have taken the news. Especially when getting the news by catching them in the act.

She knelt where she had landed after rolling off of Landis and sat covering her chest with her arms. She wasn't exactly sure why she still sat there instead of getting her clothes, or what was left of them, but she'd had a few too many curves thrown at her the past hour or so to really think straight.

Landis and Clemmons stood hugging about six meters away, and they acted like they had a minor issue to resolve in their relationship. Sort of like deciding what drapes to get for the living room. The whole thing just pushed her farther off-balance than she already was.

She saw Clemmons, who faced her as the two men embraced, open his eyes to look at her. She expected him to mouth something like, "You're dead meat, bitch." Instead, his eyes went wide again.

Clemmons pushed Landis roughly away from him and reached for the long sword at his side. As he started to run toward her, he yelled. "Shane! Get down!"

Landis rolled and looked then darted for where his sword rested in the pile of his clothing.

Under normal conditions, Shane would have dropped instantly, flat enough to the ground to make a holed-up turtle look like a skyscraper, but too many things had happened, and she hesitated.

A funny whishing sound behind her made Shane turn her head to look over her left shoulder. She had just enough time to realize that a dragon came at her, flying fast and nearly touching the ground, with its talons out to grab her.

The creature hit her hard, and everything went black.

* * * *

Chris Harris sat on the bridge, trying to figure out how and why the Executive Officer ended up pulling a midnight watch. He occupied his time by catching up on some paperwork. At least the midnight watch was quiet. A beeping sound came from the tactical station, and the officer's reaction to it interrupted his work on the duty roster for next week.

"Commander, we've lost telemetry on Sergeant Rawls."

Chris frowned. That meant the tiny biosensor implant the Sergeant had in her body failed. Or she was dead. "Science, scan for her."

"Working." The Science Officer worked her console. "Too much clutter, Sir. I can't get a fix."

"Shit." He thought for a moment. "Communications get me either Rawls or Talbert."

The Communications Officer tapped a few buttons. "No answer from Sergeant Rawls, but I have Lieutenant Talbert online."

Chris pressed the switch on the command chair. "Talbert, where's Rawls?"

"She went for a walk around the area about an hour ago, but I haven't seen her since she left."

"We've lost her telemetry."

"We'll go look for her."

He thought again. "Negative. Keep everyone there in one place until you hear from us.
Daedalus
out." He slapped at the switch again, breaking the contact. Chris hesitated, but not long before he entered the Captain's intercom number.

"Davis here." She sounded like she was still asleep, not too surprising for 0215.

"Captain, we have a situation. We've lost telemetry on Sergeant Rawls, and we can't find her."

The Captain sounded more awake with each passing second. "Damn it. I'll be there in three minutes." She clicked off.

* * * *

Elsa had managed not to actually run on her way to the bridge—she walked extremely fast instead. Even now, in the briefing room, she didn't have much more information than Chris had given her in the first few minutes of wakefulness. The science, tactical, and communications people had not found any trace of Rawls yet. Talbert reported from the surface that he had everyone else accounted for and at the landing zone. Fourteen minutes had passed since Rawls's vanishing act.

She rested her elbows on the table and leaned her head on her palms. After rubbing her eyes, Elsa looked around the table at her staff.

"OK, people, we have no reason to believe anything bad has happened, no facts to base such an assumption on. All we know is we've lost all contact with a member of the landing party, and nothing more." She took a deep breath. It drove Chris nuts when she followed the instincts the Emperor liked so much, and she suspected she was about to send him right up the bulkhead. "All that said, I've got a very bad feeling about this, and here's what we're going to do. First, Lieutenant Talbert, you and the rest of the landing party will immediately evacuate the planet."

Talbert's face on the display screen looked pained. "Ma'am, that's a bad idea. We're making good progress with the people here, and our leaving suddenly might offend them."

"Noted, Mr. Talbert, but in case you missed it, this isn't a democracy."

"What will I tell the people here?"

"You may tell them your Captain is a paranoid fool. You have your orders."

"Yes, Ma'am." He didn't look any happier, though.

"Second, this ship will go to a level-two alert. Captain Ells, I want a team standing by for immediate deployment to the planet if needed to recover Sergeant Rawls."

"Yes, Ma'am." He paused for a second. "What is the level of acceptable collateral damage?"