Page 17 of Stone Awakened

Uron’s eyes flashed over us, a smirk curling at his shark mouth, “Back at last? Had fun?” he asked. Then I guess he realized who he was talking to and that he was now kind of scared of Sunder. I saw his shoulders curl down in an effort to appear smaller. If he could blush, he might have, and I was starting to wonder how old Uron was.

“Get to your bunk,” Sunder said, his head jerking to indicate the male needed to leave. “No detours, I’ll know!” The male snapped to attention, and then he practically scurried from my room and down the hallway. I watched him disappear in surprise, it sure looked like Sunder had him under his thumb.

Then everything seemed to turn awkward for a moment, I stood just inside my room, looking at my bed. The urge to just pull him inside with me so we could share that bed was strong. He’d just declared he was going to leave and I wasn’t sure how smart it was anyway. It was starting to creep to morning and we’d been up all night, I wasn’t a teenager anymore, I was going to feel the lack of sleep tomorrow.

Sunder cupped the side of my head with a large palm, leaned in, and claimed my mouth. I melted into his arms, holding on tight to him. Mmm, maybe a bit of a sleep hangover was worth it… I should stay with him to make sure he was all healed by tomorrow. I curled my fingers around two of the bigger horns on his head, holding him to me when he started to pull back.

He laughed into my mouth, a husky chuckle that send a wave of heat traveling up my spine. “Aggy, my Fire,” he said as he freed himself. “We shouldn’t be doing this… What happened in the tower,” he started to say and I shushed him in a hurry, not at all ready to hear him say that it was a mistake and that it shouldn’t happen again.

“We’ll save the rest for later,” I said, allowing him to withdraw. My heart started racing when I thought he was going to dispute that assertion, but he didn’t, he started grinning hugely. His eyes heated as they skated over my body, lingering on my hips and my breasts for a hot moment.

“Yes, definitely. After we’re safe,” he agreed. He turned then, his now significantly shortened tail swishing behind him, wings slightly spread, as he marched down the hallway. I ogled his wide shoulders without shame, eyeing the proud shape of his head, the magnificent almost red shimmer to his wing membranes.

When he turned the corner, I turned into my room and locked my door. Though I was exhausted, I took a moment to check everything was where it was supposed to be, it was. Then I rushed through a quick shower to wash the dirt and grime from that tower from my body. A little blood swirled down my drain too, and with a pang, I realized it was from Sunder. I hoped he was feeling fine tomorrow.

My head hit my pillow and I was out like a light, exhaustion dragging me under.

Chapter 12

Sunder

I hated leaving Aggy’s side. More than anything, I’d wanted to take her up on her invitation and curl under the blankets with her. Not even for sex, though sex would have been great, I would have been more than happy to just hold her in my arms.

I’d seen the disappointment on her face, and I knew she thought I was going to say this shouldn’t be happening again. Except I couldn’t, I’d never been this attracted to a female before, Aggy was right, I shouldn’t squander that. So after our escape, I wasn’t going to let her get away, I’d just have to be patient, the kids were our priority, and neither of us should lose track of that.

Ducking into the bunk room in the barracks after a quick shower, I made sure Uron was in his bed as he was supposed to be. Then I crashed for a couple of hours of much-needed rest. I was planning on being up bright and early so I could take Uron to the courtyard for a training session before the boys were up. I needed some practice as soon as possible to make sure my balance was right.

The young guard had more trouble waking up that morning than I did, and he hated having to get a move on before he’d eaten breakfast. Tough, I wasn’t going to pamper him, he needed to work, he needed purpose. It was hard enough to find one on a base filled with slaves and drug makers, so physical activity was the best thing I could do for him.

In the courtyard, we went through the standard warm-up, revised the basics together, and then we sparred for a bit. The young Rummicaron had promise, but he was sloppy and lazy. At least it was good enough for me to figure out how to move with a shortened tail, it was an easy adjustment so I was reassured about my skills for the future.

When Aggy showed up with the kids in tow, I paused to look at them. My eyes skirted over the boys, Jett’s beaming smile. They were alright, no worse for wear after a night partially under Uron’s supervision, not that they knew about that. Aggy was in what she probably thought of as her disguise, the stern ankle-length dress and tight hairdo making her look nothing like her normal sunny self.

Then she ruined the impression by offering me a wide smile full of warmth and mischief, of shared late-night secrets. My cock twitched beneath my kilt and I lashed my shortened tail in agitation, trying to hide just how affected I was by that smile. As I looked at Uron from the corner of my eye, I saw that the young Rummicaron had the audacity to smirk.

Unlike the normal, run-of-the-mill kind of Rummicaron, Uron was part of a small subset of his species where emotions were not quite so suppressed. I felt for the guy because that was a deficiency in the eyes of his people, one he’d been under enormous strain to hide. I happened to know that it was especially those of his race like him, that fell victim to the Roka.

Ignoring the know-it-all look the young guard was giving Aggy and me, I took the boys under my wings for the day, all three of them. Humans didn’t tend to be as durable as most species I’d noticed on the Vagabond. Tori got extremely grumpy if she didn’t get enough sleep, so I’d spend plenty of nights watching her baby for her. Aggy had to be feeling it, so I made sure she got to sit on Uron’s bench in the shade most of the day.

It was late afternoon when one of my worst fears came true. The Crimelord and his two Xurtal guards strode into the courtyard, this time the females were only scantily dressed, their leather suits only covering the pertinent bits. While that definitely drew Uron’s eyes, I kept mine on the sharply dressed male that walked in with a single purpose in mind.

His eyes swept the slightly derelict place with a look of disgust, then lit up when they spotted Aggy sitting in the shade. Or rather, she’d leaped to her feet at their arrival and stood nervously smoothing out her long black skirt. I wish I could go over there and stake my claim, but doing so would be incredibly stupid.

The Crimelord glanced at Uron with a disdainful look, as aware as I was of Uron’s differences. The lip curl, displaying his teeth, made it very clear that though the young male was now clean, he was still far beneath him. The cold black eyes landed on me next, less expected, as he’d completely ignored my presence last time.

“I heard good things about you,” the Crimelord said, “You seemed to have impressed Or’tal in some manner. You’re an old hand aren’t you?” He approached, and I forced my wings to remain relaxed against my back, even though I strongly felt the urge to spread them and block access to the kids standing behind me.

I wished she didn’t do it, but I understood it only too well, Aggy had calmly made her way toward me. She was now standing next to me, her skirts flared out as she did what I’d wanted to do and hid the kids behind her.

Forcing myself to remain calm, I shrugged lazily, “That so?” The Rummicaron Crimelord was a prime example of his species, he remained cool and calculating. There wasn’t a shred of emotion on him as he scanned my form, his eyes noting the odd scratch and scar, leftovers from my gladiator days.

“You look familiar, have we met before?” Carator asked, his arms crossing over his massive chest, a frown creasing the skin above his eyes. I felt nerves settle like lead in my belly in response, had he once seen me on the sands? I hadn’t been in an arena fight for a good five years, maybe even longer.

Shrugging casually I said, “I’m pretty sure you haven’t, I would have remembered.” Then I purposely swished my newly shortened tail so it drew his attention, hoping that the changed tail would make him second guess remembering me. It seemed to work, or maybe he just didn’t care enough to really puzzle over it.

His eyes slid from me to Aggy and his posture changed, conveying an urge to be closer to her, an urge to touch her. It was a basic kind of lust, one this male had no need to suppress, he was powerful and he could get what he wanted whenever he wanted it. It drew out all my protective instincts but one wrong move here, and we were all dead, or I was dead and the others suffered an even worse fate. So I bit the inside of my cheek and held still.

Aggy remained standing, her back ramrod straight, in front of the two boys. She had a grimace on her face that I was sure was meant to pass as a smile. The Rummicaron wouldn’t know the difference probably, because he didn’t feel that kind of amusement himself. I could tell that the Xurtal women and Uron did see it, but nobody said a word.