Knights of Desire [Flights of Fancy 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (15 page)

Clemmons could see sadness on Shane's face. He suspected it was a sadness he shared for the loss of Landis. Shane said she didn't love Landis, but she'd shared herself with him just the same. He knew Landis well enough to know he wouldn't have pushed her into fucking him, though he probably did take command of the encounter. Clemmons kept replaying the words of Alicia in his mind. She'd casually commented, "Part of Shane's love for you is because you have that honor." What could have made the girl have that idea?

Alicia's words made him wonder if he also saw love on Shane's face. Did she love Landis? Did Shane, as the young woman implied, love him? This was all new ground for Clemmons. He'd never loved a woman before. If he faced the facts, the only person he could say he ever loved at all was Landis. He'd fucked a lot of women, but he didn't love them. Clemmons tried to push through his own ego enough to understand if any of those women had loved him. He didn't know how to tell the difference between love, political ambition, and just fucking.

What he did know was he saw mostly pain on Shane's face. She hurt, physically, and he worried for her survival. He'd seen men on the battlefield die from wounds not too different from those Shane now suffered. That she still lived and was conscious was a testament to her training and conditioning.

She touched his arm, and his skin tingled from the warmth of her fingertips. "What are you thinking about?"

"Mostly how to get you to safety and to your people, so they can help you."

Shane nodded, and a small smile broke through the pain. "If you say so."

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

* * * *

The Emperor actually threw back his head and laughed. Admiral Reeves didn't seem to think it was nearly as funny, since he still frowned on his side of the split-screen.

"Oh, Elsa, that's great! That's something I would have done a few thousand years ago!"

Reeves cleared his throat. "Jim, this is serious. She kidnapped the king of a sovereign planet, and the diplomatic detail on
Daedalus
has filed a formal complaint."

The Emperor wiped at his eyes. "Calm down, Zach. You'd have done the same a few centuries ago."

"Maybe so, maybe not."

"Sure you would have. In fact, remember when we had the Samulian Prime Minister as our guest? He didn't want to be here anymore than this king wanted to be on
Daedalus
."

"That was different." Reeves's cheeks flushed.

"How? Other than you went to get him for me." The Emperor laughed again. "And if you can remember back two thousand years, our wives reacted the same way as you're doing now."

A small smile leaked through the Admiral's attempts at being stern. "Yeah. I thought Janelle was going to kill you."

"And Claire was just as pissed off at you. But in the end, they got over it, and it was all for the best."

Reeves nodded. "I get the picture. So, what do you want me to do about this complaint?"

The Emperor shrugged. "I don't really care. You can deal with it or leave it for Q, but it ends here."

Elsa had assumed the Emperor was in his office, but maybe he wasn't. Empress Marilyn walked into the view on the screen and promptly sat on his lap. She leaned and kissed her husband's ear. From the way the man jerked, Elsa suspected the tall, slender blonde ran her tongue about a hundred centimeters into his ear.

James the First, by Grace of God Emperor to Mankind, smiled a little sheepishly. "Well, I need to go. Good work, Elsa." His half of the screen faded to black.

Reeves rolled his eyes. "Those two never cease to amaze me. Carry on, Captain."

* * * *

Shane had a lot on her mind. She needed to focus on getting out of the cave, and that meant she needed to get past the pain that built like a bonfire in her right side and chest. That was hard, but her training helped. She thought she could do it, keep moving right up until the point she would pass out.

What was harder was resisting kissing Clemmons again. She didn't know if she could do that or not. She tried to look at it logically—she needed to save her strength for getting out of here.
Then
she could jump his bones.

If she lived long enough to get out of here, and Shane had her doubts about that.

She wondered about what Alicia had said. Shane was fairly certain she hadn't fallen for Landis. Maybe. On the other hand, she'd made love with him in spite of knowing about him and Clemmons. She'd felt warm and safe in his arms. Even if she couldn't allow herself the luxury of grieving right now, she did feel an empty pain at his loss. But there was something very different with Clemmons.

First of all, she could admit to herself she'd wanted Landis, even if she didn't know it until he grabbed her. With Clemmons, she wanted him so much she could almost taste his cum in her mouth and feel his cock in her ass and pussy. If she didn't think it would kill her, she'd be all over him right now. She knew she might do it anyway.

But more to the point, she needed him to take care of her, and she wanted to take care of him. They would need each other when the time to grieve for Landis came, and Shane wanted to be there for Clemmons. She couldn't think of anyone she'd rather have there for her than Clemmons.

Maybe, somehow, Alicia had hit the nail on the head. Maybe she did love Clemmons. Maybe not love as in picking out furniture, but she wanted to be with him. The fact was she wanted to be with Landis in the same way, but Shane knew that was out of the question now. The real fact was she'd fallen for two men.

Clemmons interrupted her reflections. "How will we get you to your people so they can help you?"

"You're assuming we'll get out of here." A pained look flashed over his face, and Shane regretted her feeble attempt at humor. "I'm sorry. Of course we'll get out. All I can think of is getting back to the camp."

He shook his head. "No, that's a four-hour climb I know you couldn't make."

"I have no idea, then."

He sat quietly for a time. "We'll work out something." He stared at her, almost to the point of making her uncomfortable. Clemmons took her hand in his, and his face lost all expression. "Shane, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"I don't want to hurt you, but may I kiss you again?"

Shane felt the smile come to her lips. "I'd like that, yes."

He leaned towards her, and his lips touched hers with a tenderness that was surprising for such a large man. Shane tried to lift her arms to his neck, but he gently held her, and that was for the best—the motion of lifting her arms caused pain to fire through her chest.

Clemmons's tongue eased into her mouth, and he tasted wonderful, the sweat on his lips mixing with some unknown chemical of his body to dance across her taste buds in delightful ways. Despite the burning pain in her chest and side, Shane's body responded to him, warmth spreading across her breasts and moisture flowing from her pussy.

Shane had decided it didn't matter if it killed her or not—dying in his arms would be worth making love to Clemmons. A small crunch of rock outside of the crevice made Clemmons spring to standing as his hand grabbed the sword, swinging it to the ready.

A voice called softly. "Sir Clemmons? I am Drongly. Cedric sent me for you."

She couldn't decide if the timing of dragons was terrible or wonderful.

* * * *

Drongly had convinced him Cedric's plan might work. Clemmons carried Shane, and Drongly walked behind them. The idea was to convince the other dragons Drongly was escorting a pair of prisoners someplace to meet Cedric. So far, it was working, and Shane was doing well. Besides, she felt good in his arms.

The interrupted kiss had been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. Clemmons wanted to hug Shane, to run his hands over her soft, small body and pull the cloth from her, but that would have hurt her, and he would rather cut off his sword arm than cause any harm to Shane.

But now he held her cuddled in his arms, and she had her arms around his neck as they walked through the second level of the cave with Drongly barking orders to turn at certain intersections. The only bad part was that, to make the façade complete, Clemmons had surrendered his sword to the dragon and had only his dagger tucked into his belt.

Drongly whispered from behind them. "We near the ramp to the first level. We can only hope Cedric has been able to get word out that we are to have safe passage."

Clemmons nodded, fearing speaking would draw attention to them. Shane squeezed his neck and her lips touched his ear softly.

As they ascended the ramp, a sudden wailing sound broke out from deeper in the cave. No longer whispering, Drongly screamed out above the racket. "We must run! That alarm means they have found Handley and the guard dead!"

As light as she was, Shane still slowed Clemmons as he ran up the ramp. Drongly urged them on, but Clemmons's feet slipped on the loose rock and sand, and he almost fell.

Shane wiggled in his arms. "Put me down. I can keep up."

"No, I'll carry you."

She twisted and slipped out his embrace to get her feet on the floor. "You'll need your arms free to use your sword. I'll keep up."

* * * *

Dave was on point as the team came around a corner of the cave, and more than a dozen dragons stood in the passageway ahead of them. Following the standing orders, he checked his rifle to confirm the stun setting and fired. Unlike the times before, when the dragons simply collapsed in a heap, the group turned and stared down the corridor at him, wondering what the buzzing sound was.

Dave fired again, but nothing happened. Three of his comrades fired, and the dragons reacted. They all started running directly at the assault team.

Ells yelled into the communicator. "
Daedalus
! We have no effect from the blasters. Going hot! Sergeant Kyle, the use of deadly force is authorized!"

"Copy that, Sir! All team members go hot, rapid fire, short bursts!"

Dave entered the override code and flicked his rifle to projectile mode. Picking his targets, aiming for the closest dragons first, he fired short, controlled bursts down the passageway. When the ultra-fast slugs ripped through their bodies, the dragons jerked and twitched. The sounds of the reports rang through the cave like staccato drumbeats, and the dragons hit the floor of the cave and lie still.

As the echoes rattled to fading infinity, Dave heard the response from
Daedalus
. "Davis here. You are clear to use deadly force. Science thinks the ore is blocking your blasters."

* * * *

Elsa ran her fingers through her hair and then rubbed her eyes. It had been just shy of twenty-fours since Sayid had left
Daedalus
, and Elsa had left the command chair only to go to the bathroom. She looked a mess, and she knew it.

Ells hadn't slept in that long, either, but it didn't show through the communicator. Like all grunts, he sounded and looked the same, no matter what was happening. Elsa never could figure out how they did that.

Ells chuckled. "So much for the element of surprise."

"Yeah." She rubbed her head again. Her hair itched. "How many dragons are dead?"

"We count sixteen. We tried to wound them, but they just kept coming."

"All right. From here on out, don't risk people on non-lethal weapons."

"Understood, Ma'am."

Elsa heard a wailing siren through the communicator. "What the hell is that?"

Ells looked around. "I'd guess that's the sound of the welcome wagon coming to greet us."

"Great. Carry on."

* * * *

Shane moved as fast as she could, but Drongly kept moving far ahead of her and had to stop to wait for her to catch up. Clemmons ran behind her, his sword at the ready, and he stayed close as he tried to look in all directions at once.

The pain in Shane's chest was getting worse. There was no doubt about that, and her breath burned as she panted. She pushed herself much harder than she should have, and her vision swam and black spots often obscured objects.

Here on the first level, they feared running into a group of dragons responding to the alarm that still screamed its deafening screech. Drongly had stopped, waiting for her and Clemmons to catch up before turning a corner at an intersection.

Shane leaned against the wall and struggled for air. Clemmons watched her carefully.

He turned to Drongly. "We must let Shane rest."

"No! Now that the alarm has sounded, they will be looking for Cedric, Alicia, and Shane. We must go on, or we'll all die!"

Clemmons studied her face before turning back to the dragon. "We thank you for your help, and you should move on. We'll find our way from here."

Drongly hesitated. "Cedric asked me to be your guide, and I'm true to my word. We'll wait a few minutes."

Shane knew some kind of an important breakthrough just happened when Clemmons sheathed his sword and clapped Drongly on the shoulder. "You are a true and honorable friend."