TICEES (68 page)

“How could you just leave me?” she cried, and she slumped down, bashing hard onto her open wounds. Chelan rolled onto her side and curled into a compressed ball of unrelenting pain. She felt eviscerated, utterly bereft. She cried until she could cry no more. She was going numb from the cold, but she didn’t care. He was gone, and she was alone again. But what was most devastating was that he had not even said good-bye.

*****

Shan clambered back up from the lower tunnel and crawled into the main cavern. He straightened as he brushed himself off and then removed his shroud. The tunnel had seemed endless, opening into tiny caves here and there, but it had eventually become too dark even for his eyes, and he was forced to turn back. That was going to be his first of many exploration adventures as he worked to get his strength and endurance back.

Shan looked to his furs, but Kayla was gone. Instantly his heart stopped, and his eyes made one desperate sweep of the cavern. He sprinted to the rocks that had hidden his weapons, and he saw them in disarray. He looked over to where his shroud and uniform had lain and he approached the area cautiously. He knelt down and touched the drops of blood, and suddenly his stomach turned.

He leapt to his feet, clutching his lazgun instinctively. “Kayla!” he shouted. He listened, but there was no response.

“Kayla!” he yelled as he ran to the cavern entrance. Shan tried to catch his breath in an attempt to still the threatening panic. He dashed up the cavern tunnel and stopped abruptly at the sight of the crumpled figure before him. “Oh, Kayla,” he moaned. “Kayla,” he cried as he dropped to his knees beside her, his arms outstretched helplessly as he looked at her bleeding wounds.

Chelan responded slowly at first, her body sluggish, her mind tethered in her past. Then she looked up at him through clouded eyes. “I … I thought you had left me,” she uttered, her speech slurring.

“Shit,” Shan muttered, realizing that she was too cold to move and was quite possibly hypothermic. He scooped her into his arms and hugged her tightly as he tucked her inside his shroud. “Oh, Kayla,” he moaned as he buried his face into her hair.

Chelan finally blinked back to reality, and she forced her stiff arms around his neck. She felt disoriented, her body unresponsive. He opened his jacket, baring his skin to her. He clenched her tighter, cocooning about her, imparting his heat to her.

Finally her body began to shiver, and feeling began to return. With clarity descending, she scrambled into him, struggling to get as close to him as possible. “I thought you had left me,” she gasped. “Just like all the others.”

Shan was distraught at the pain he had inadvertently caused her, and he rocked her gently. “No, Kayla,” he soothed. “I would not leave without telling you first. I would never do that to you.”

Chelan went limp with emotional exhaustion, and she slumped into his lap like a rag doll. Shan stood and carried her back down into the cavern. He laid her down gently onto his furs, but she would not release him. Shan had to reach for her arms and force them from his neck. He held her hands tightly. “It’s okay, Kayla. I’m not going away.”

He watched her quiver for a few moments more, and then he saw her take a deep breath. He spread a blanket over her and then moved to get a pelt. Tenderly, he wiped away her blood and then looked closely at her injuries. They were mostly deep flesh wounds, but they needed to be cleaned, and some rock fragments had to be removed. He reached for the all-too-familiar antiseptic and dabbed each knee, removing debris when he had to.

She remained very still the whole time, and Shan knew that her eyes were riveted to him. She was not going to let him out of her sight.

Chelan watched him closely lest he vanish. He looked so handsome in his uniform, so familiar, and her heart bled. What was she going to do when he did leave her? She closed her eyes against the torturous reality. It was only going to be a matter of time.

Shan moved up beside her, reaching around her and tucking the furs over her to warm her. Then he shook his head at her as he looked down into her fawn-like eyes. “You could have frozen up there.”

Chelan swallowed. “With you gone …” she paused, “I would have died anyway.”

Shan leaned over her and stroked her soft cheek. Then the words she had spoken at the interface slammed into his head, and his heart twisted. “You’ve been left before?”

Chelan immediately stilled as she remembered all the vivid details surrounding Korba’s brutal departure, the images assaulting her weakened mind as though it had just happened yesterday. Then Fremma … then Dar …

Shan slipped down beside her. Reaching for her, he surrounded her with his arms. He looked into her heavy eyes. “Whoever he was,” he whispered, “he was a damn fool.”

Chelan said nothing. There was nothing she could say.

Shan watched her as another round of shivering consumed her. Sitting up straight, he removed his shroud, jacket, and gloves, and then moved under the blankets with her. She immediately turned to him and burrowed into his body, burying her face his neck. Shan closed his eyes. He would not disappear again without telling her. Obviously she had been abandoned here, and his blood ran cool at the revelation. Had someone dumped her here, hoping she would die? Shan hugged her closer and closed his eyes. No, that was impossible. Who would try to dispatch of such a beautiful creature, and why? No one was that cold, and he knew there was much more to her story than her simple existence here.

They lay together for a long time, and finally Chelan collected herself enough to speak. “Where did you go?” she asked quietly.

Shan began stroking her back. “I awoke long before first light and didn’t wish to disturb you, so I went exploring the side tunnels.”

Chelan looked up into his warm eyes. “Did you find anything?”

Shan smiled. “No. The one I chose eventually tapered out and began to get too dark. I’ll look at some others as time goes on, only I’ll tell you when I’m going.”

“I’m sorry that I overreacted.”

Shan held her face, stroking her chin with his thumb. “You didn’t overreact, Kayla. You just assumed the worst. If I’d been here, alone for so long, and you came into my life, I would have reacted the same way if I awoke some morning to find you gone.”

Chelan suddenly felt a soothing contentment wash over her, and she hugged him tightly. Shan held her for a long time until he was sure she was okay, and then he rose up and looked down at her knees. “They will be okay,” he commented. Then he stood and removed his boots and knives. He smiled at her and then walked over to the pool, where he stripped off his pants and jumped in.

But Chelan was not letting him out of her reach. She immediately followed him over to the water and sat by the edge. Rapidly, her mind sorted through her situation and her desolate life here alone. He had been with her a long time, and his temporary absence had shocked her to the very depths of her soul. It was time to enjoy his presence to the fullest, for she knew that someday soon he would be gone, and it would not be exploring; it would be permanent.

Shan surfaced and smiled at her. Chelan smiled back briefly and then took a deep breath. She lifted her tunic over her head and laid it beside her.

“Coming in?” he smiled as he blew a few bubbles and then disappeared from sight.

Chelan quickly removed her sarong and slipped into the pool; her knees stung badly.

Shan surfaced again. “How are the knees?” he asked as he cleared the water from his eyes.

Chelan looked at him intently. “Fine,” she muttered. But her mind was not on her knees. She pushed away from the pool’s edge and approached him slowly.

Suddenly, Shan lost his smile, and he touched bottom, remaining very still. She slid up his body like a diaphanous whisper. She reached for his face and immediately took his lips. Shan was thunderstruck, and his heart slammed against his chest.

She peered up at him and pressed her soft breasts against his sensitive skin as her long legs surrounded his waist. He moaned, realizing that she was completely naked. His hands coursed over her sides to her back, and he pressed her against him. Shan searched her deep brown eyes, and he kissed her lips briefly. Then he drew back and watched her carefully as his hands descended over her smooth, round buttocks. But she did not flinch, and she did not pull away. “I want to make love to you,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

Chelan smiled. “I’d like that,” she uttered.

Shan kissed her hard and pushed off from the pool bottom, moving her to the rock ledge. There he stood and grasped her waist, lifting her up to the pool’s edge and sitting her there. He tore his eyes from hers and looked over her sensual, moist body. He placed his hands on her thighs and parted them slightly. Then he slipped up to the ledge between her legs. His hands moved up her slender thighs and around her firm bottom. He held her tightly as he leaned to her and took his first taste of her full breasts.

Chelan closed her eyes and hugged his head, stroking his long, wet hair as he teased her nipples, long-forgotten sensations rippling over her like soft, deep shocks. She loved him so much, and she wanted all of him.

Shan moved his hands to her breasts and began caressing them. The feel of all her luscious, ripe flesh beneath his fingers set his body aflame. He leaned in and took her in his mouth again, sucking her hard.

Chelan let her head fall back. She moaned. Everything he did felt so good. It had been so long, far, far too long.

Shan’s breathing took flight, and he allowed his straining erection. He released her as she arched back from him. Then she pushed away from the pool’s edge and lay down, raising her feet from the water. Shan couldn’t believe her erotic motions and the passionate sensuality displayed before him for the taking. He looked at the soft feminine folds offered to him, and his mouth watered. He rose out of the pool, causing a warm wave to wash over her.

Shan crouched onto his hands and knees and moved over her, tasting her breasts again. He felt her hands brush down his chest, and then she grasped his swollen penis. He shuddered. She stroked him as she curled forward, her tongue teasing his neck and throat.

Shan was beside himself with desire, and his body quaked. He split his legs wide and tilted himself to her, his pulsing organ teasing her slippery folds.

Chelan released him and fell back down to the cavern floor. She wasn’t interested in foreplay. She just wanted to be filled.

Shan watched her carefully as he pushed through her softness to her opening, and then he stopped. She looked at him with wide eyes, and he smiled. He kissed her lips gently as he resumed his entry but then he hesitated as he felt her extreme tightness.

Chelan felt her flesh burn at his gentle pressure, and she stiffened. It had been a long time, and what she remembered most vividly was the pain forced on her by Ticees. Her legs trembled, and she closed her eyes, eradicating the images from her vision.

Shan withdrew and rested down on her being careful of his weight. “You’re tight, Kayla, and I’m not going to hurt you. You have to relax.”

Chelan opened her eyes and nodded.

Shan began to kiss her mouth tenderly, his tongue exploring all of her as his fingers traced gently over her neck. He needed her to come to him, to want him so badly that she would accept him easily and painlessly. And so he moved off her and to her side, his fingers slipping into her moistness.

Chelan felt every nerve in her body ignite as he began to tease her swollen nodule. He hunched over and began suckling her breast, and Chelan thought she was going to burst. She tilted her hips to him, begging to be taken, and his fingers moved to her soft opening, penetrating her slowly. Chelan cried out and grabbed his hair, pulling him from her breast and kissing his mouth aggressively.

Shan returned her passionate kiss as his fingers traced up to her hard peak. There he began his slow, circular caress, his touch light, forcing her to arch to his touch. Then he slipped two fingers into her deeply as his thumb smoothed over her erect clit, and he tantalized her until he felt her unreal tightness abate, her tension replaced by a deep pulsing that mirrored his sensual caress. He rose over her effortlessly, his fingers still deep inside her as positioned himself again and pressed near her. But he did not enter her.

Ever so slowly he began removing his fingers, his fingertips just teasing her entry, rubbing along the edge, electrifying her nerves. He looked down into her face, her skin flushed, her breathing labored. He pressed the head of his penis into her and moved his slick fingers back to her swollen bud. He stroked her, bringing her critically close to her peak. Then she arched back and cried out in ecstasy, and he relented, allowing her to orgasm. She grabbed onto his shoulders tightly, and Shan pressed his fingers against the small organ, forcing her final tremors. Then he let his fingers travel back down toward her feminine well, and he felt her creamy warmth inviting him. His fingers entered her again, causing her to gasp, her muscles clenching around him. Then he ceased all motion and looked down into her eyes, waiting for her permission.

Chelan looked up at him, her eyes pleading with him, and he smiled. He removed his fingers from her and ran her wetness over his organ, lubricating himself fully. Then he settled onto her and began his slow and cautious entry. Her hands moved over his steel-hard buttocks, and she pressed him to her.

Shan pushed into her, but he was wary, concerned for her comfort as he began his controlled penetration. But he felt her stiffen once again, and he knew she expected pain. Shan smiled at her. “You have to relax, Kayla, or it will hurt.”

Chelan closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to wipe Ticees from her mind. Then she felt Shan lift off her slightly, and she looked up into his anxious eyes.

“Hey,” he called to her. “Was someone rough with you?” Shan waited, but he could tell she was not going to speak. But she did not have to. Her eyes and her muscles instantly betrayed her. Shan shook his head at her. “I will not hurt you, Kayla. I will not do anything that makes this unpleasurable for you. I will not enter you simply for my sake.” His voice became a deep, sensual, whisper. “Trust me, pretty woman.”