WastelandRogue (19 page)

“Mount me,” he instructed, anxious to feel the tight sheath
of her cunt take the brunt of his lust.

“Not yet,” she teased, moving her leg over his other thigh.

She sat on both his legs, undulating back and forth. Closer
and closer, her body moved upward, her movements merely caressing his stiff
erection.

“Tease,” he growled, spanking her bottom.

Her whimper escalated with each of his smacks. He continued
to slap her firm buttock as she rocked against his erect cock, heightening his
anxiousness by the feral sounds of her climax.

Unable to wait any longer, he gripped her waist and lifted
her. His cock head pushed through the entrance of her cunt. He dropped her
instantly, letting her sink onto him. “Hell, that feels good.”

Mesmerized by the rapt sensations flowing through him, he
watched Rye. He studied the way her lashes fluttered and the way her lips
parted. Her body seemed feather light, lifting with ease. The downward plunges
took him deep into her core. Her insides twitched violently, squeezing and massaging
him into a state of intense rapture rather quickly.

He arched at the first wave of heated energy coursing
through him. Thrusting against her downward force, he raised her. He lowered,
only to have a quick spurt of his discharging semen buck him back up from the
ground.

Rye rode him, fervently bouncing and keeping pace as he
thrashed against the sensations erratically jolting him. The overflow of his
semen trickled out of her. The wet warmth slid down his shaft and tickled his
scrotum.

He pulled her down and hugged her. “Now what are you
thinking?” He put a hand against her cheek.

“How wonderful this is. How wonderful you were.” She rubbed
her face against his palm.

“Ah, female thoughts,” he teased.

“No decent female would have the kinds of thoughts I’m
having,” she purred seductively.

Sevrin wove his fingers into her hair and pulled her close.
He kissed around her hairline, across her cheek and over her nose. He ended on
her mouth and imagined spending countless days with her, memorizing the curve to
her jaw, the softness of her lips and the feel of her pulse. When he thought of
the passionate beat of her heart, he nuzzled kisses at the base of her ear.
Then he sucked on the delicate stretch of her neck and placed fresh marks of
his lust on her skin.

When he was done, he felt her suddenly withdraw from the
moment. Her thoughts were always on something else. Not wanting to be greedy
with his desires, he rolled her to his side, put his arm around her and closed
his eyes.

The silence let him think of how crushed he’d be if at the
end of their travels they parted ways. He didn’t know what she thought of their
future but he couldn’t think of one without her in it.

Rye stared at the silhouetted remains of Old Louis Ruins.
She had never traveled so far northeast. The rain was gone. Beams of sunlight
shot out from between the uneven silhouettes of crumbling buildings covered in
vines. Like the forest in the Taum Sauk Mountains, the green city on the
horizon was a colossal scene promising an environment of tranquility.

“It’s a beautiful sight at a distance, isn’t it?” The awe in
Sevrin’s voice didn’t fit with a man who boasted of being a loner in the
wastelands. Did he long to be part of a faction of people in a constrained
environment or was his talk of a solitary life a fabrication for her benefit?
She shivered in response to the tingle of uncertainty laying a course through
her.

“Wait ‘til we’re closer. Then you’ll get a different view.”
His short laugh had a sinister edge.

She shook from the tremor of insecurity. “Why is the
Wickstrom Group paying humans to bring them
lamians
?” She blurted out
the biggest question she had rattling her.

“I don’t know that they are. It’s a rumor as far as I know.”
He opened his flask and offered a drink to her first.

She took one sip and handed it back.

“You said your brother works with them.”

His swift turn and dead serious look made her step back. “I
haven’t seen him in over a year. That’s why I came. I’ve heard rumors of
something bad going on, something my brother wouldn’t be a part of. I had to
make sure he’s all right.”

“I want to believe you but—”

“You want to? What the hell does that mean? You think I’m
lying?”

She tried not to let his wounded look sway her.

“I feel as if I know all I need to trust you. From the
start, I
did
trust you.”

“You’re not making any sense. What is with you? What’s all
this talk about trust?”

“I’m having trouble believing anyone can be everything you
are. Who’s like that? You’ve been caring for me since I was half-dead in a
ditch. Why? No one has that easy a life that they are perfect. I can’t help
feel at times I’m being led to my demise. You do the right thing and say what I
need to hear. How do I believe that it’s real?”

“What kind of plan do you think I have?” he asked.

“You’ve said all along that your brother works for the
Wickstrom Group. Hamner took my sister and his intent was to sell her to some
scientists in Old Louis Ruins. The Wickstrom Group is in Old Louis Ruins
according to you as well as that desert rat, Levor.”

“So you’ve come to the conclusion that instead of us
traveling together, which if you remember was your idea, that I’m taking you to
the Wickstrom Group to sell you to scientists that want
lamians
? And all
the danger we’ve run into—that I’ve faced to keep you safe is just so I can
make a profit?”

Rye shrugged. When he put it in perspective, it did sound
silly. She reached for the flask and took another drink.

“If that isn’t enough, you’ve also forgotten I’m half
lamian
as well.” His disappointed tone and the frown wrinkling his brow made her feel
so small.

Damn paranoia.
It had to be the dehydration that had
her thoughts working overtime to convince her Sevrin wasn’t the man the sane
and sensible side of her trusted.

“No.” She gulped down another mouthful of water.

“Look, my brother works for the Wickstrom Group, not me,” he
continued. “If they’re up to no good, then he doesn’t know it. I’m actually
hoping he doesn’t. That means he’ll be all right and I can get him to leave the
group. If they’re taking
lamians
, they aren’t going to like half-breed
lamians
either.”

He was right, of course. She stared at the ground kicking
the dirt with the toe of her boot. Pebbles rolled along a set of grooves. “Look
at this,” she told him when she saw the familiar tracks.

“Don’t go changing the subject now. We need to get this
problem you have with me cleared up.”

“Just look.” She pointed to the ribbed rows denting the
ground. “Is this what I think it is?”

“A steam-trekker.” He confirmed what she thought.

He followed the track marks and she trailed him.

“
My
steam-trekker,” he announced. “Here, see that
jagged gouge that repeats?”

He ran ahead. She watched him pause about every twenty feet
and crouch down. Then he stopped and she walked to him.

“That’s from a broken link,” he said without looking up at
her. He continued gliding his finger along the groove in the dirt.

“So, Levor did come here,” she commented, happy for the
distraction from her foolishness. “Maybe he found himself another
lamian
,
a less risky one than me to deliver to them.”

“Levor was interested in drugs, not
lamian
hunting.
However, if there are drugs to be found, big-city ruins like this place will be
the place to find them.”

“Where would anyone begin to look?” She scanned the large
area the ruins covered.

“I’d say he just asks. Someone will point him in the right
direction.” He lifted his flask and took a drink.

Seeing the glint of Sevrin’s white teeth in the sunlight,
she had to ask, “Does your brother have fangs?”

He gave her a strange, perplexed look. Oddly, his long
silence didn’t rattle her. Paranoia worked in a bizarre fashion. It made her
distrust when she shouldn’t and trust when she should.

“No,” he finally answered, an amused grin appearing along
with a twinkle in his eyes. “He’s like me, right down to not mentioning he’s
part
lamian
.”

“It
is
part of our nature.”

“Anything else you need to know?” he asked.

It occurred to her he might think she was scoping out what
she was up against.

“It wasn’t something I needed to know. I was just curious.”
She decided against asking if his brother was also as handsome as he was.

“Levor had to know where he was going to drive my steam-trekker
right into the city.” Sevrin rubbed his hand against the side of his face,
scratching at his whiskers as he stood in thought. “Come on, sunshine. We’ll
follow the tracks.”

Rye watched him start walking away. The endearment caught
her by surprise. She didn’t even think he realized what he said with his
attention so focused on following the tracks.

Her trust in him swelled. “Do you think they kill their
captives?” she asked, walking quickly to catch up to him. “The Wickstrom
Group,” she clarified.

“I don’t know. Anything’s possible. We’re still not sure
that the Wickstrom Group is corrupt.”

“What other scientists would there be around here? It has to
be the Wickstrom Group. But whether they are the ones or not, wouldn’t you
think live specimens would be needed for testing whatever it is they’re trying
to develop?”

“I’m sure the dead would also be useful for dissection and
examination.”

Rye put a hand over her mouth to hold back her gasp. Even
though she had slip-ups, for months she had worked hard at not thinking of what
Shay might be going through.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest your sister was…is…Tell me
about her. How did she get mixed up with Hamner or a man like him?”

“Six months ago we were scrounging around an abandoned
shelter. Tired from our walk, we decided to take a nap in one of the mineshafts
under a shack. A sound woke me and there he was. Hamner had my sister. Semi-unconscious,
she didn’t fight back. I knew he had sedated her with something, but I didn’t
know with what until he held me captive. He used allium on us.”

“How is it he kept you from stopping him?”

A pang of guilt churned in her stomach. Sevrin’s innocent
question didn’t hint at the blame she felt. Since then, not a day had gone by
without Rye thinking it had been all her fault.

“He was already up the ladder. By the time I got to the
trapdoor leading to the shack above, he had it bolted. It took me forever to
break the hinges. I tried to find his trail, except there was nothing in the
dust to indicate which way he had taken Shay. For weeks, I looked in nearby
shelters and still came up with no clues. Then I decided I’d go back to the
shelter and wait. I figured he’d hunt the same grounds. I was about ready to
give up when he showed. I had no other choice but to let him abduct me.”

“Did he tell you anything about your sister, any clues at
all?”

“I never got a chance to ask. I was unconscious most of the
time. And when I wasn’t, I was too busy fighting the pain. That’s why it was so
important to keep him alive at Toddas’ camp.”

“I’m sorry about that, Rye.”

“It’s not your fault. Besides, he didn’t tell me the truth
about the allium field, so there’s no reason for me to think he would have been
truthful with any information. For all I know, he’s kidnapped so many
lamians
,
he didn’t even know which one was my sister.”

“So he may not have brought her here either. She could be…”

“Dead,” she finished. “I’ve thought of that.”

“I was going to say she might have been taken somewhere
else. The marauders aren’t particular about who they make slaves.”

“Hamner had to keep me drugged to prevent me from biting
him. I don’t see why anyone, even a member of the marauders gang, would chance
having a
lamian
around.”

What if a gang of offensive ruffians didn’t have a wise
brain in their head, would that put Shay in a better position than with mad
scientists?

“I suppose you’re right. That wouldn’t be the smartest
move.” Sevrin agreed.

Rye considered what Sevrin said, what he hinted at about
Shay. He didn’t come out and say she was dead, but his tone suggested it.

Tried and thirsty, she trailed behind Sevrin as they entered
the decayed city. Her thoughts continued to tumble around different scenarios
for what happened to Shay. Each one came from something Sevrin had said. His
mention of making
lamians
slaves kicked in her distrust of him again.
Sure he was part
lamian
, that didn’t make him unscrupulous.

She hated having Sevrin the center of bad thoughts. Was he
still playing his game of subterfuge and leading her into a trap? They were so
close to the end of their journey. Soon they’d meet up with his brother at a
Wickstrom facility. That fact alone scared her. After all she had heard, she
had concluded scientists were evil. How did she just willingly walk into their
clutches?

Wary, she let the gap grow bigger between her and Sevrin.
When he stopped, she stopped. What harm was there in playing it safe?

She hadn’t seen anyone, but she had sensed someone watched.
Was Sevrin also instinctively aware or did he know exactly who lurked in the
out-of-the-way spots? How many hid behind trash heaps or peered out from the
shadows of doorways? She spun to a sound of echoes from inside one of the falling-down
structures.

“Keep walking,” Sevrin said. “A show of confidence will keep
some of them in hiding.”

“Who are they?” As she talked, she pretended to wipe her
face to conceal her fangs.
Lamians
didn’t have a habit of hiding from
one or two people they could overpower. Humans on the other hand were a sneaky
bunch.

“The destitute, derelicts, maybe marauders, I don’t know.
I’ve only been here once before. I had to fight a man who wanted my boots.” He
stopped when they reached the taller buildings.

The pockmarked stone, bleached by centuries of sunlight, and
the pale brick walls had seen rough times. Wars, weather and time had beaten
them into dismal relics of a long ago and very different kind of civilization.
She often wondered what it was like hundreds, thousands of years ago. There had
to be a time when people lived in harmony to create such massive dwellings.

“Where now?” She stayed back, giving him room to study the
area, giving her space to defend herself should anyone try to take her.

“We’re looking for a gray building with a black door marked
up with a lot of writing and symbols.”

Rye looked around. “All the buildings are gray.” Although
she’d better describe them as washed sand.

“Yeah, and the ones with doors have quite a few symbols and
lettering on them as well.”

“You said you were here before. Don’t you remember anything
else about the building?

“Not really. Zandt met me outside. He said his associates
got nervous about unauthorized people being inside.” Sevrin walked back to her.

She stood still, prepared for him to turn on her. When he
didn’t come closer, she gazed around the skyline, wondering why anyone needed
to be so high in the clouds.

“Tall, aren’t they? Imagine those ten, twenty times that.”
He stepped over a chunk of stone. “Most of what’s left of these ancient
buildings is beneath our feet.”

She stared at the ground.

“Time has blown a lot of sand over the remains,” he
explained and reached for her.

She stepped back but a steel beam protruding from the ground
snagged the heel of her boot. Sevrin caught her from falling.

“What are you doing?” she asked when he slid his hands
inside his coat she was wearing.

“Making sure we have this.” He pulled out a funny-shaped
piece of metal.

Was that the small palm-sized object she’d seen him retrieve
from his government storage box? She’d had it all along without knowing it lay
tucked in a hidden pocket in his coat.

“What is that?” she asked.

He handed it to her. “That’s called a key. Zandt gave it to
me. He said if I ever really needed him beyond something we prearranged, this
would open the door we’re looking for.”

“I thought government buildings had fingerprint and eye
scanners?” It was what her father told her. She had never seen any.

“Zandt said
lamians
can alter their fingerprints and
eye details to whatever a scanner last read.”