Under His Guard (14 page)

Resituating her clothes, she saluted. “Roger that.”

“Woman,” he growled.

“What? I was responding to a direct order from my commanding officer.”

Liz and Darwin clambered over the dune, arms raised in the air.

“Use your assets!” Linc instructed.

“Don't worry, baby, we'll be using those and plenty more.” She wiggled her ass and tapped her thigh. “I've got my party favor. And a little flash bang goes a long way.”

“Righteous babes,” Raine said.

He was caught in the crosshairs of every scowl. He only shrugged in response, taking out his cig papers to roll one up.

“You want to send up smoke signals or something?” I snarled, knocking the rolley out of his hands.

Linc was to cover our two interlopers. He was almost as much of a crack sniper as Liz. He followed the women in his sights as we scrambled up the hillside beside him.

Liz and Darwin made it safely to the fence, approaching a trooper. I focused the binoculars for a closer look. The women talked. He lowered his aim to the ground. A healthy length of feminine leg was flashed. The soldier licked his lips, nodding.

“Those are some serious assets.” Raine must've had a death wish, making a comment like that.

Without so much as looking, Linc reached over and knocked him on the back of his head. “Shut the fuck up about my woman.”

“Would it help if I said I was talking about Darwin?”

“No,” we all replied.

We continued to watch in near silence, holding our breath. Seeing former First Lieutenant Liz Grant playing coy was certainly an eye-opener.

Beside me Linc muttered a long string of curses until he couldn't hold it in any longer. “I swear to fuck, if that grunt so much as touches Liz, I'm gonna put a bullet in his head.”

Cannon looked away from the binocs and glanced at Linc. “You could just kill him now.”

“I'd blow their cover.”

“Better than her blowing him,” Cannon joked.

“You are seriously not helping,” Linc gritted out.

Leon watched beside me, barely breathing, his lips moving silently, perhaps in prayer. I briefly took his hand in mine.

“They're in!” Linc reported.

“And the guards?”

“Following like slaverin' dogs on a dick leash.” Nathaniel got into a crouching position.

“All of them?” Cannon got into position beside his man, ready to hoof it.

“Affirmative. Move out.” Linc motioned us forward, keeping the rifle at his shoulder while he started down the dunes.

Keeping low to the terrain, we sprinted across the open plain with our weapons raised. I tore off the headdress; it interfered with my sight. The others followed suit. Subtlety was off the table as we rushed the prison camp.

We took our positions along the edges of the fenced structure, each of us with a C-4 pack set to blow. Every corner and interim location turned hot when the red light went green. I only hoped the POWs had been corralled in the middle.

After a twenty-second countdown, the outer barriers blasted wide open. My ears rang and my sight pinwheeled, but as the shattered glass from the solar mirrors projectiled around us, I had only one person to keep track of: Leon. I covered him with my body, wrapping my arms around his head. The din of explosives echoed in my hard-beating heart when I felt his long draws against my chest.

I pulled him to his feet, giving him a quick once-over to ensure he was in one piece. He already had his pistol in hand. It took more than a bomb to fuck up my baby, as I well knew.

The retaliation came fast—the inner fences fell like dominoes to the sand. As we were swarmed by a mass of prisoners and guards, we herded the friendlies outside and went hand-to-hand with the enemies. Back-to-back we moved as one. Leon was more than capable of taking on the Corps troopers.

A sudden onslaught shoved us apart. I knocked out two of my assailants with my fists, swinging around to throw the third motherfucking limpet off my back. That's when I heard Leon's raised voice. He was being driven into a corner where spikes of glass jutted from the sand like swords. One stumble and he'd be impaled.

With an almighty roar, I yanked the soldier off my back and snapped his neck. As I raced forward, I realized that I couldn't kill the trooper on the attack and save Leon at the same time. There was no backup. Adrenaline jetted through me. I crashed into Leon sideways, covering him as we flew through the air and clear of the biggest threat, the mirrored shards. I braced for the impact of bullets in my back, sure they'd hit me before the ground did.

I landed on my side with Leon in front of me and scrambled quickly around, almost certain I was dead. Gun raised, I started to pull the trigger when Sebastian appeared from the smoke and dust. The soldier who would've killed me bled a red puddle into the sand, care of Bas.

He leaned over us. “We're clear.”

My head thumped back and I laughed weakly. “Shit, man. We were supposed to be saving you.”

Sebastian stuck the Corps-issued weapon in his waistband. “I told you I wouldn't let you down.”

Wiping my eyes of grit, I took a second to thank the motherfucking Lord for Sebastian's quick reflexes. Leon helped me to my feet, but something in his stormy gaze haunted me.

There was no time to unravel what his look meant as Linc came up to tell us the others were preparing to make tracks. We rendezvoused at the main entrance to the camp, which was now little more than twisted wire and metal.

Cannon stood beside Liz, surveying the damage. “That was a goddamn close call.”

“Those glass shards missed us by a cunt's hair,” Liz replied with her usual expressive language.

I tried not to think about how close Leon and I had been to death, because it was bound to give me the shakes.

“Ah fear mah skin got a little toasty.” The soft southern lilt came from Farrow.

Sebastian pulled his sister into his embrace. “I didn't think we'd get out of there.”

They held on to each other for a moment before Farrow drew back. “Are you gettin' prissy on me?”

“Hey, you're the one standing here complainin' about your sunburn.”

And we were all back to normal again. Normal dysfunction, anyway.

“Enough small talk. Time to put some distance between us and this bust-up.” Linc marshaled everyone toward our hidden vehicle.

“What about dem people?” Leon pointed to the multitude of prisoners filtering through the fallen battlements. Some of them were not in the best of shape.

He posed a solid question no one had an answer to…until Darwin drove up in a large military transport followed by another with Raine at the helm. The pair located a couple of copacetic-looking POWs, gave them the keys, and directed them to the new Karesh coordinates. Hopefully Shehu and his people could handle the influx.

After commandeering an extra vehicle to accommodate the rest of our group, we tore the desert to hell scrambling back to the castle. Concern for Leon was foremost in my mind. Like the solar panels, I felt him shattering apart inside. He couldn't be remembering the last time we'd been caught with our pants down in an explosion. That had been the night in Beta when Taft had blown up his bio-bot factory. The night I'd saved Sebastian, Liz, and Leon. When my back had been burned and scarred, the moko with Tammerick and Wilde's names forever marred.

There were ten of us now at the island castle, but I didn't have time to play hotel concierge or chatty host. As soon as we were inside, I grabbed an armful of food, some fresh water, and Leon's hand. I banged up the stairs, towing him behind me. His seething glare was a living brand on my back.

I quickly shut the door behind him and dumped my armload on a table before turning to face him. I ran my hands through his hair and jerked his head up. The need to kiss his pouty lips crashed through me. I hesitated before our mouths met, waiting for him to tell me
no
.

With a hungry moan, Leon gripped my shoulders and slid our lips together. The silken mesh of our tongues, the hot glide of our lips tore a rumbling groan from me. I drew back with a growl. Every part of me hummed and throbbed. My balls ached for a quick release, but I wouldn't find relief that way. I sensed Leon's arousal…anger…fear.

“What are you scared of?”

“Why don' you tell me? Ain't dat part of your talent?” His words were scathing.

“You do not want to play this game with me tonight, Leon.” I dragged him against me.

He lashed out. “I'm scared of losing you!”

“Unless you pull another stunt like asking to be shot in the head by the next hippie with a handgun, that
ain't
gonna happen.” His anger sparked mine. “So why don't you tell me what this is really about.”

He locked his jaw and looked away.

“You gonna make me fuck it out of you?”

“You don' fuck, remember?”

“I do now, if that's what you're asking for.”

“Yeah,
beb
, maybe I am.”

I all but tore the clothes off him. Pushing him face-first against the wall, I kissed and licked and sucked my way down his long, lean body. By the time I reached the top of his ass, he panted. He grinded back against me. He cried out when I ran a lone finger down his sleek trench and another teasing fingertip up the underside of his hot, heavy shaft.

Pulling back, I stood up. I ripped off my clothes and flung them aside. He peered over his shoulder at me, licking his lips until they were full and shiny.

I sat on a high-backed chair and beckoned him to me. “If that's the way you want it, get over here. And bring the lube and condoms with you.”

Leon gasped, eyes widening, then fanning low. He swaggered my way, supplies in hand. Moonlight through the open windows highlighted his bronzed skin, loose hair, long muscles, tall cock.

When he stopped in front on me, I treated him to a good look at my thick shaft as it stood straight up. He moved to touch me, but I didn't let him. Instead I stroked my jutting rod with long, hard pulls, sighing with pleasure. His groan was a sound of pure frustration.

“I don't know about you, but I thought about doing this all day long. Thought about you doing it for me.”

“
Merde.
Please, Darke. I want to.”

“What if I want to suck your cock?”

He had no smart-ass reply. His mouth opened and closed with a snap as he nodded.

“Put it on my tongue.” I leaned forward, opened my mouth, and waited for him to probe inside.

Leon was so erect he had to force his shaft down and between my lips. His firm length snuck into my mouth. I hollowed my cheeks, tonguing the tight cliff around the head, pressing it to the roof of my mouth. Taking him completely inside, I swung my head from side to side before pulling back. I still worked my cock; my knees spread wide so Leon could stand between them. Lowering his pelvis, he bucked inside from a different angle, one that made him shout. I sucked him off long and hard, easing up every time he thickened and swelled as he got close to climax.

Leon watched it all with gleaming black-gold eyes. This time it was the fury of arousal blazing out at me, not the fail-safe of anger.

He released his dick from my mouth a final time, and I turned him around. I gripped the high crescents of his ass, my thumbs tickling his hanging ball sack. Then I spanked him, on the left side, the right, with an open palm, and then with the back of my hand.

“Aahh!”
His back arched. He stepped into the slaps, bracing his feet farther apart.

Another swing, another smack. I even went at his swaying balls with the lightest flips of my hand. “Is this what I need to do to get you to talk?”

He didn't answer. I bit and sucked the sensitive skin at the top of his cleft, reaching between his spread legs to pump his wet cock. Releasing both my teeth and my hand, I pulled the tight orbs of his ass apart and licked from his perineum to his spinal column. Then I leaned away from him.

“Is this what you need?” I growled.

“I need you!”

“That's better.” Kissing to the middle of his back, I caressed up and down his inner thighs. “I need you, too.”

The final furious tension dissipated from him as soon as I said those words. Parting his ass, I got him as wet as I could with my tongue and then even slicker with the lube as I powered my fingers into him.

When he was ready and I was dripping long, clear strands of precome, I turned him to face me. “You're my sweet sexy baby, aren't you?”

His hair hung in his face. I smoothed it back. “
Oui.
Yes.”

I guided Leon over my lap. I lowered him slowly until the muscles in his thighs trembled and his abs twisted. His breath gusted across my neck and he watched my cock get closer to his pucker.

“Stay like that,” I ordered.

He hovered just above me, not making contact, straining at the thighs to keep the position. I ran my hands all over his soft skin. I tweaked his nipples and licked them. I caressed his arms and shoulders and back. I circled the infinity ring of his tattoo with one fingertip over and over while his hips dipped and danced, trying to make a connection with my rigid cock.

I pulled his mouth to mine and lashed him with my tongue. He returned the kiss with feverish desire. When I had him grunting with each breath, I sheathed my shaft in a condom and slathered it with lube. Finally I touched the broad tip to his hot hole.

“Now, remember, I don't play around, boy. Fuck me.”

It was only the second time we made love. Like the first time, we eased into it, now completely at Leon's pace. I held his ass cheeks open. He used my shoulders for leverage. Our lips coasted together as the teasing slow glide of his tight channel opened for me. Halfway down, I used another drizzle of slick liquid along my cock. I pooled more into my palm and took his erection within my fist. My length was slippery, Leon was primed, and the rest of the way down was a fast glide that punched the breath from my chest and a yell from his throat.