Tip of the Spear (3 page)

“I—I
do not need
you
. I need Kitty.”

Shocked
anew, he watched her enter at Kitty’s invitation. Kitty shook her head and
grinned. She winked, throwing brown ringlets in waves around her painted face
before she closed and locked the door behind them.

Poleaxed,
Hinto didn’t know what to think.  The woman had blushed, had looked at him with
eyes that saw too much and not enough, and then sought out a
woman
for
companionship. Yes, he wanted her, but Hinto Dakota didn’t fawn over any female.

Disgruntled
and tired all over again, he spun on his heel and sought DeeDee. After a few expected
niceties, he found himself in her room and soaking in a warm bath that smelled
like pine. Pleasant, natural, and soothing.

“Ah,
Dee, you know how to please a man.”
Unlike some women.

DeeDee
smiled knowingly and washed his back when he leaned forward. Like the others in
residence, she tried to look years younger than her own age. He’d visited her
on and off for a few years and knew she had to be older than the twenty years
she advertised. Still, she had all the assets he required in a woman. Large
breasts, full hips and the wherewithal to sate a man’s needs with no
expectations of anything more.

“Lean
back, sugar.”

He
leaned back and spread his legs wide, knowing what came next. She didn’t
disappoint. Dee reached into the soapy water, leaning low enough to show him
those fine, round globes plastered to the sheer blouse that gaped at her
cleavage. Her nipples stood stiffly beneath the fabric, and Hinto liked to
think they grew hard just for him. Though Dee had always preferred him to any
other customer in the place, he wondered if she desired him, his gold, or just
sex in general.

Cupping
him, she exerted gentle pressure on his balls before sliding her hand up and
down his shaft, the way he liked. After his day spent chasing the Appersons and
dealing with an infuriating woman who didn’t seem to realize she was one, he
needed the break. But as his desire increased, he imagined the green eyed woman
with her pouty lips and lean lines pulling on him, rubbing on him, sucking on
him. His arousal grew.

“Oh,
baby, that’s it,” Dee crooned and kissed his neck, his chest, his chin. Her
hand moved faster and she began whispering in his ear. Things she wanted to do to
him, things she would do to him after he came the first time.
Things I want
another woman to do to me without Kitty or anyone else present.

The
thought of shoving hard inside his green eyed stranger made his heart race and
his cock throb. To watch those expressive eyes widen and her ripe lips part as
she came around him nearly undid him.

“Oh,
you’re ready today, baby. So full for me,” Dee murmured as if from far away.

Hinto
groaned and closed his eyes, needing the release. She flicked her thumb over him
and stroked the spot just below the head of his shaft. Once, twice…  He shot
hard, gasping for breath as a fog of pleasure consumed him. Emerald sparks
glittered behind his lids, a blaze of color in tune with his passion. Time
seemed to stand still as euphoric wonder overtook him. As he came down off his
sexual high, he flushed at Dee’s grin.

“You
needed it bad, hmm? A hard day?”

“You
have no idea.” He sighed. “Thanks, Dee. Now how about that dinner you promised
me?”

She
nodded. “But not before I get a good look. Trust me, sugar. There is nothing
finer in this life than the sight of a well hung man dripping wet. Especially
one that looks like you.”

He
shook his head and stood, aware that she told the truth about liking the look of
him. He’d never hurt for companionship when he needed it, but he’d always
chalked up the attention to his naturally large frame. Perfectly proportioned,
he’d often heard said after a night in bed.

“I
love your hair. It’s so dark it’s almost blue.”

Like
his name.
Hinto
meant “blue hair” in Dakota, the language of his
mother’s people. “Yeah, well it’s nothing compared to your beauty, Dee.” His
gaze lingered over her breasts and he reached out, weighing a heavy mound in
his hand. He shoved her blouse aside and lowered his head to suck on the stiff
peak. “Mmm, almost as good as that steak you promised me.”

She
laughed breathlessly and scurried out the door.

He
toweled off and lay back on the bed. Clasping his hands behind his head, he had
to force himself not to throw on his clothes and find out what the hell Green Eyes
wanted with Kitty. Not my concern, he told himself. But the hell of it was, he
couldn’t stop thinking about her, which aggravated the piss out of him.

Throughout
his dinner, a massage, and another few romps with Dee that ended in cathartic
orgasms for them both, Hinto forced himself to concentrate on the woman
servicing him. A simple enough exchange. Gold for pleasure. No strings attached.
 

He
fell asleep with green eyes on his mind.

Chapter Two

Thais
studied the painted woman before her with unease. Kitty wore her sexuality like
a moth-eaten cloak. Such age and pain could not be covered by the cloying
paints these whores used. In the four years she and her sisters had spent
acclimating to the Territories, Thais had come across some strange things. But
this driving need men, and apparently women, had for sex baffled her.

“So
you want to know if I’ve seen who?” Kitty paused to take a puff of a smoke that
smelled of clove and another substance she couldn’t identify.

Yara
would know what it is.
Thais missed her friends dearly. They’d
parted two months ago, and in the time since, Thais felt more alone than she’d
ever been. Or at least she had, before she’d run into that male, a warrior with
light blue eyes.

When
Kitty raised her hand in front of Thais’s face, she coughed through the smoke
and apologized. “I’m sorry, Kitty. I’m not used to such libation,” she said
haltingly, not sure if she used the right word. It had taken her two years to
conquer the Territory language, and she still misused words when she took the
time to speak them.

“My
clove cigarettes?” Kitty laughed. “Honey, that’s not libation. That’s good
clean medicine. The clove helps me to swallow. Numbs my throat.”  She winked,
as if sharing a joke. Thais had no idea what she was talking about. “The filler
is homegrown leaf. The damned UTO outlawed tobacco ages ago. One of our last
great vices.” She sighed. “It was organic, but toxic. Well, shee-it. Who the
hell wants to live forever, anyway?”

Not
sure what to say, Thais tried to regroup. “I am looking for a man.”

“Ain’t
we all,” Kitty muttered and took a long drag.

“This
one goes by the name Aaron Bartel. He’s very rich. His chest is broad, and he stands
this high.” She held a hand slightly above her own head. “He also has dirty
yellow hair and dead eyes. He’s a leader of men like him.”
Murderers and
rapists and thieves.

“Hmm,
Bartel, you say?” Kitty puffed away on her cigarette. “Why are you looking for
him?”

The
sharp look on the woman’s face urged caution.

“I
think he may be traveling with a few women I know. The warrior—women would be
like me. Tall and strong, maybe with darker skin than many of you here, from
time spent in the sun.”

“I’d
bet they talk funny, too, eh? Like you. One of ‘em have a purple flower with a
yellow dot inked on her cheek, just under her eye?”

Pilar.
Thais’s
heart pounded. The traitorous Amazon would lead her to Bartel. She knew it.

Kitty
smashed her cigarette on a ceramic plate. She blew out a residual puff of
clover scented smoke, and Thais fought the urge to gag. “What’s it worth to
you?”

“What
do you need?”

Her
quick answer took Kitty by surprise. “Hmm, what do I need?” She eyed Thais up
and down. “Take off that hat and lose the bandana.”

Thais
grudgingly did so.

“Holy
shit, honey, you’re a beauty. Now take off that vest and open a few buttons.”

Thais
had a bad feeling Kitty would demand of her something she refused to give. She
slowly took off her vest and unfastened a few buttons.

“You
binding ‘em?” Kitty nodded at her chest.

“Yes.”

“Thought
so. You have a build that screams sex, you know.”

“No,
I do not.” Not sex. Never that.

Not
sure if it was her tone or her stillness, Thais watched as compassion replaced
the speculation on Kitty’s face. “Oh, okay, hon. You can’t gimme another girl
to use. I get it. What about currency?”

Thais
buttoned up her shirt and donned the vest again. The thin barrier of clothing
made her feel safe. As if cotton and leather would protect her from the evils
of men.

“I
have some gold, but I think it will not be enough. Is there some service I
might perform instead?” Realizing how Kitty might interpret that, she hastily
amended, “Some man who has wronged you? Someone you wish dead?”

Kitty
stared in surprise. “You a merc?”

“A
merc,” she tested the word. Chow Yen had taught them much when they’d reached
the Territories, but apparently the little man hadn’t taught them enough. She
learned something new every day.

“A
mercenary. You a killer for hire?”

“No,
but to learn of Bartel, I would right a wrong done you.” To balance the scales
of justice. The Goddess encouraged right. Death was a natural part of balance,
an accepted occurrence in Thais’s scattered world.

“Right
a wrong, hmm? You know, honey, I think you and me just might have a deal.”

Not
only did they have a deal, but Kitty added in a room and a meal for Thais’s
promised service. Considering what Kitty wanted done, Thais would have done the
job for free. But she needed information about Bartel.

As
Thais settled in for a night’s sleep, she tried to tune out the moans and
groans around her. The rooms in this building had thin walls. Conversations
droned like the buzzing of bees, low and insistent despite her closed door. The
constant banging of something against her wall and the accompanying moaning of
both a man and a woman made her think, surprisingly, of the tall stranger she’d
encountered twice today.

He’d
led her here to Kitty House with the expectation that she’d service him the way
the women here pleasured their customers. Despite what had happened to her
village four years ago, Thais didn’t hate men. Chow Yen had seen to that. She
didn’t necessarily like them, nor did she anticipate ever mating with one of
them. Though from what she’d heard, sexual intercourse wasn’t always painful,
and most men seemed to derive pleasure from it.

To
hear Kitty tell it, nothing satisfied like a good ride from the right man,
whatever that meant. Though well-intentioned, Kitty’s offer to help Thais get over
her discomfort with sex—and she still didn’t know how she’d been so transparent—bothered
the hell out of her. Thais couldn’t imagine spreading her legs for a man, surrendering
to his control. Still, today when the warrior had asked her to
thank
him, she’d felt a stirring of… something. Unfamiliar yet exciting.  Her heart
raced, her breath grew shorter, and her face heated. Nerves, not anxiety. A
kind of interest, she supposed.

And
why not? Even Mother consented to lying with a male once. Besides, he’s the
first decent looking warrior you’ve seen out here in the land the Goddess
forgot.

Taller
than Thais and strong of form, he’d impressed her at first with his stillness
and steady reserve. As he’d drawn closer on his vore, she’d sworn she sensed an
answering wildness in not just the beast he rode, but in the man as well. Shoulder
length black hair so dark it shone blue under the sunlight had captivated her,
but his eyes had held her attention like nothing could. An exact match to the
crystalline blue waters in the Goddess Cave, those orbs possessed unfathomable
depths.  

His
voice, when he spoke, sounded rich. Like the rumble of a jaguar, yet clear of
intent and strong. Unlike most of the filthy men in the Territories, he smelled
of sweat and power. The burning energy in his gaze discomfited her, the way the
guardians at home could unnerve the enemy with just a look.

He
handled a rifle with ease and sat atop a vore as if he’d been born in the
saddle, as she’d heard many a man comment about natural-born riders. Thais
herself didn’t care for horseback. Riding a vore, on the other hand, appealed
to her, maybe because vores were rumored to be nearly as intelligent as people,
or because they could never be fully tamed. Oddly enough, the vore and the man
reminded her of home. And she began to dream…

Thick,
humid air seethed with impending rain while variegated green leaves fluttered
in the dying wind.  The muted hum of insects, yowling jungle cats and
screeching monkeys sweltered around the alien sounds of men in the village. Their
presence remained a puzzle, an affront the Goddess had, for Her own reasons,
once again allowed.