Tara The Great [Nuworld 2] (48 page)

“Don’t make it sound like such a curse.” Instead of removing her pants, Darius

grabbed onto them and pulled Tara to the bed.

“I can’t live with you going to other women.” Tara allowed him to seat her on the

edge of the bed and looked into his eyes as he took off his pants.

“Well, I wish for you to live,” he said as he met her gaze and dropped to his knees.

He pressed her to the bed, then slid her pants down her legs. “I wish for you to live by

my side for the rest of our days, my lady.” He freed her legs, then spread her open. The

fresh air in the room hardened her sex, and fresh moisture sprang from her.

“Oh Crator,” she yelped when his mouth covered her, and she felt his tongue stroke

her opening.

Darius made love to her with his mouth, and Tara wrapped her fingers in his hair,

pinning his head between her legs. She pressed her feet to the bed and lifted her rear

end off the blankets, making it easier for him to soothe the ache that consumed her.

Tara exploded and pulled on his hair, smashing his face between her legs. “Darius

now!” she screamed. “Make love to me now!”

He rose over her, grinning as his face shimmered from her moisture. He brought

her legs up with him as he knelt over her. Tara could feel the hardened throb of his

penis at her entrance and bit her lip as she waited for his thrust.

Darius slid into her slowly, closing his eyes, and arching his neck so that she could

see the stretch of his Adam’s apple. She watched him as she felt the length of him fill

her, and stretch her. Her insides gripped around him, and she focused on the

contractions as she exploded again around his sex.

Tara felt every orgasm ripple through her body with a heightened awareness she

didn’t remember experiencing with Darius before. He felt so good inside her, satisfying

every need her body had, as he managed the pace of their lovemaking for maximum

effect. He whispered his love for her repeatedly as he quenched her desires.

Tara couldn’t help herself in the moment, and confessed how much she loved him,

too. Everything he did felt so perfect, and Tara wondered if they could carry the

strength of this love throughout the rest of their lives.

“You’ve got me, woman,” Darius howled when he exploded inside her.

Tara felt the pulsating as he came deep within her womb, and she ran her hands

down his sweat-covered, muscular back when he collapsed on top of her. She prayed to

Crator that she could keep this man, and keep this love for always.

Sleep came quickly and easily after their lovemaking, and Tara didn’t dream. But

sometime later, a noise awakened her and she raised her head from her pillow. Was

that gunfire?

Tara sat up.

There it was again.

Shouts.

Screaming.

She stared at the dark bedroom, then at the empty space next to her. She sat in her

bed, alone, and allowed herself a moment to wake up. But the slamming of the back

door downstairs, then muffled voices outside, had her tossing off blankets. Tara ran to

her dresser, and pulled clean clothes out and dressed in the darkness.

What was happening?

What time was it?

She glanced outside and noted how dark it was…how very dark.

Tara tucked her shirt into her pants and recounted in her head what she had just

heard. Someone had fired a Gothman gun. The realization that she had heard gunfire

twisted her stomach into knots. She pulled on her boots, feeling sick at the thought that

someone in the house might have been shot.

But who?

And where was Darius?

Another gunshot made her jump.

Tara searched for the pants she’d worn the day before and found them crumpled on

the floor. She pulled her laser from the pocket, taking another minute to find her shirt

so that she could get her comm. Tara hurried out of the room, stuffing her comm into

her pocket.

“Torgo, what’s going on?” She stopped at the open door of the landlink room, from

which light flooded the hallway. “I heard gunshots.”

Torgo turned and stared at her, looking for a minute like he’d forgotten how to talk.

“Torgo!”

He licked his lips and that’s when she saw the panic in his eyes.

“What is it? Where’s Darius?”

“He’s outside.” He glanced at his monitor, as if it would tell him what to say, then

turned and looked up again at Tara. “Andru’s gone, he is.”

Tara felt panic rising from her gut, forming a nasty-tasting bile in her throat. She

gripped the doorway and stared at the teenager. “What do you mean, he’s gone?”

“Someone took him.”

Tara tightened her grip on the doorway as she felt the sensation of the room turning

sideways. It took her a second to organize her thoughts. “Someone took Andru?” she

asked, as she tried to organize her thoughts. “From his room?”

Of course, from his room. Oh, Crator, no! Her thoughts raced into gear, and her heart

pounded, making it hard to breathe. She couldn’t fathom the thought that her own son

could be stolen from his bed during the night. Even though she had managed a similar

act not so long ago, Tara had to work to accept the fact that the safe haven of their home

could be violated in a similar sense. “Someone was able to sneak into this house and

take my son?”

“Yes.”

“Did anyone see who it was?”

“Tasha.” His voice was quiet, like he’d done something wrong.

Tara blinked. Her head began to clear as anger replaced panic. The bitch! “Have they

caught her?”

He turned to look at the computer. “Not yet, no.”

Tara turned and ran down the stairs, three at a time. Outside, she grabbed the

nearest glider and focused on the landlink between the handlebars. The lights on the

small monitor blinked on as she started the machine, and Tara took off as the dome

closed silently over her. She left the ground with more speed than she had ever

managed before. “I’ll kill you, you little bitch,” she muttered, punching keys on the

landlink with one hand, steering with the other.

The landlink let her know that a glider flew ahead of her, and Tara accelerated until

she recognized the Gothman insignia on the side of the machine. Within seconds she

had the machine in better view from the light of her glider and recognized Darius inside

the dome.

Tara cursed out loud that she hadn’t insisted on knowing the status of the guards

before falling asleep. They should have expected that Tasha would retaliate in some

way. Still, Tara never would have guessed her sister possessed the skill to maneuver her

way into the Lord of Gothman’s house. But Tasha was a Runner, and had been trained

over the winters just as Tara had.

The battle against the Lunians had stolen their attention from their home and

focused it across the mountains. She and Darius should have briefed the attending

guards who had remained at home, but their thoughts had been on their homecoming,

and the many tortured and abused people needing attention.

Tasha had found a weakness in the line, and she had made her move.

A glider appeared ahead of them. Tara punched buttons on her landlink, identified

the glider as Neurian, but found no other vehicles in the area. It had to be Tasha.

Tara pushed her glider as fast as it would go. If Tasha said or did anything to

Andru…

“Sweet sister,” A voice came through Tara’s comm.

“Land that thing, now,” Tara hissed into her comm through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, right, so you can blow my head off.” Tasha laughed. “Not today.”

“You won’t get away with this. We’re not going to just give up. Land the thing and

end the inevitable.”

No response.

Tara glanced at Darius. He focused on the glider ahead of them. She tasted blood,

and realized she’d bitten her lip in fury.

Tasha would die for this. Crator, you can’t possibly argue with me on this one.

Darius veered away from Tara’s side and flew toward Tasha at an angle.

Tara took his lead and leaned on her glider as she slanted through the air, then

turned to head toward Tasha’s glider from the opposite side.

Tasha dove her glider toward the ground to avoid them, and Darius dove after her.

Tara followed.

“Did he ever tell you what he did to me?” Fear could be heard in Tasha’s voice as

she tried to navigate the glider and talk at the same time.

“Hurt one hair on my son’s head…” Tara growled in response.

“He laughed through the whole thing, did he tell you that?”

Darius soared around and came up alongside Tasha’s glider. Tasha dodged to

avoid him again.

“Land!” Tara yelled.

“I still hear that laugh in my nightmares.” Now Tasha whispered. “He tortured me,

you know. Tied me down and broke bones and laughed. Always that laugh.”

Tara cringed when she saw Tasha’s glider decelerate, then accelerate, as the woman

looked about her wildly. The whole time, she held Andru around his waist.

“I have scars. I’ll show them to you sometime.” Tasha laughed, but her expression

was frantic, Tara noted when her light hit her sister’s face. “He’s a monster, dear sister.

A monster. He raped me, he’s raped others. They told me he did. He lies and he rapes.

Women, always women. I wasn’t the first…has he raped you, yet? He will, you

know…he will…”

Darius cut her off from the front, forcing her to slow down. Tara caught occasional

glimpses of him through the glider’s beam. He appeared focused and determined.

Darius could hear what Tasha said to Tara, if he chose, but the hard look on his face

gave no indication whether he was listening to the words, and if he was, if they fazed

him.

Tara watched her sister turn from side to side in the seat of her glider. Strands of

hair covered her face. The woman wore her Runner clothes, although not the headgear.

Tasha controlled the glider with only one hand and held Andru with the other. When

she altered course, the glider jerked, making the two of them bounce within the