Tracker and the Spy Page 7

  Kyle nodded. Wow. The knot in her stomach loosened a bit. She could do something some of The Guard couldn’t? “Yes, First Warrior.”

  “Good. Go. Eat. Sleep. That’s an order.”

  ❖

  Tan crept through the forest, a silent shadow slithering from tree to tree. Not even Anya could cool the fire that still burned inside her. So when she’d slept, Tan had gnawed through her bindings like an animal and slunk back to camp. Phyrrhos’ heat called her. Laser-blue eyes called her.

  She’d been watching since before daylight. The new sparkler kept a restless guard at the mouth of her dragon horse’s prison. The screams of her bonded tore at her. She licked her lips. The sparkler was tall and leanly muscled. Her short dark hair set off a long jaw and handsome features. She would like to have that under her or between her legs. Her sex, raw and tender from Anya’s treatment, burned as she slickened with arousal. Focus. She needed to focus.

  The first rays of dawn filtered over the mountains. She’d need to free Phyrrhos at twilight, not dawn, when Specter was flying about since she’d clearly chosen him to sire. There were things she’d need to do to prepare.

  Tan watched Toni trudge up the hill, leading the old mare who would be Phyrrhos’ daytime companion. After checking the high, narrow window in the gate, Kyle and Toni activated the dual controls to release Phyrrhos into the paddock with the mare. She raced around the enclosure a few times, then settled down to graze.

  Tan watched the two young women. The sparkler was in constant motion, her movements jerky and quick. Tan considered this activity. Was Phyrrhos’ heat affecting her, too? Her blood quickened, her own breathing loud in her ears. She felt exhilarated and a little possessive—of Phyrrhos, of course. She had no real interest in the sparkler, although a jump with her could be pretty hot. She licked her lips, imagining the taste of that long, firm torso under her tongue. Would the sparkler seduce Toni the Pony into a little ride? Maybe she’d sneak along behind them to watch.

  While the sun warmed the mountain peaks around them, a thin, cool mist had settled over the valley the same way the breeding fever was clouding Tan’s normally logical mental processes. That’s why she nearly missed Jael striding up the hill toward the younger women. Tan twitched. Her need hadn’t lessened when Phyrrhos transformed to her daytime wingless form, and Jael’s appearance amped the pressure.

  Tan hesitated when Jael led Kyle to the far end of the training fields. Jael normally shielded out random thoughts of the people around her, but Specter’s interest in Phyrrhos obviously affected Jael. Would she sense Tan’s need if she got too close? Still, Tan paralleled them, staying just inside the woods, and climbed a sturdy tree to observe.

  Sun and moon. This sparkler had real heat. Tan watched Jael coach her, like she’d schooled each of them in this and past lives. She leaned forward, nearly losing her footing when Jael walked several meters away and challenged Kyle. The name formed in her mind like a pearl, perfect and iridescent. Sun and stars! She was holding back Jael’s flame. Tan tightened her hold on the branch to steady herself and silently rooted for Kyle. When Jael won out but extinguished her flame at the last nano-second, Tan felt every muscle in her body relax in relief.

  For a moment, her head cleared of Phyrrhos’ frenzy, and she felt ridiculous sitting in a tree when she should be starting rounds in the clinic below or, more importantly, gathering information to go after Cyrus.

  It was only a brief respite. Tan’s breath caught as Jael jerked Kyle to face the canvas duffle. A razor-thin stream of fire shot from Kyle’s fingers to cleanly burn through the rope that held it suspended. Dung. Not a sparkler. A blazer.

  ❖

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Second wrapped an arm around Jael’s shoulders and steered her toward the headquarters’ prep area. “Yes, she’s still up there. I think you wore the poor woman out last night.”

  Jael shrugged her cousin’s arm away. “Shut up.” She was edgy. She’d expected the backwash from Specter’s desire to breed Phyrrhos. That was simple to remedy with Tan gone and her soul-bond, Alyssa, more than willing to quench her sexual thirst. But she hadn’t expected to feel Phyrrhos’ call to Specter so strongly through Kyle. She’d just made two loops of her usual morning run to dissipate some of the sexual tension, and she was still throbbing so bad Second was starting to look good.

  “I don’t like that look,” Second said, grabbing Jael’s hand and turning it over to plop a small dark cake in her palm.

  “I’m not eating that.” Jael stared down at the chocolate treat. “That’s one of your specials, isn’t it?” When they were young and reckless, Second would mix the herbs and bake them into a chewy chocolate-cake batter. Then they’d eat a few and lie in the meadow for hours to stare at the stars as the herbs slowed their brains and dulled their focus.

  “You need to calm down. Just one piece, a cold shower, and a good jump will take your edge off. Then eat another piece and try to sleep so Alyssa can come down and get some breakfast. I know you walked the camp half the night after you exhausted her. You’re no good to us like you are.”

  Jael rocked on her feet. She couldn’t stand still for even a few seconds.

  “Kyle’s already been through here. She looked exhausted but as tense as you, so I gave her a huge breakfast burrito and a couple of my specials for dessert so she’ll sleep.”

  Jael considered admonishing her cousin, then relented. The herbs were harmless—both medicinal and recreational. She popped the treat into her mouth and then scooped up two more while she chewed.

  Second pointed to the stairs. “Straight to the shower. Do not touch her until you stand under that cold water and give the special time to work.”

  “Have Uri and Nicole bring Toni here for breakfast.” Jael tried to sound casual, but each word came faster than the one before. Knowing Alyssa was upstairs in their bed, naked, was driving her into a near fever. “Tell everyone. In case there’s another spy in camp, I don’t want anyone else to know who Kyle is. The less she mingles, the fewer questions she’ll be asked, so she’ll be taking all her meals with us until Tan returns and they head out.” Jael sprinted up the stairs, pulling her T-shirt over her head and popping the other two specials into her mouth before she reached the top.

  She forced her eyes away from the sleeping figure still huddled under the blanket. Alyssa was a very deep sleeper and had adapted to Jael’s habit of getting up during the night to fly with Specter, then returning to their bed a few hours before dawn. But it was almost zero-seven-thirty, and her responsibilities as a healer usually had her up and on her way to the clinic by now. Alyssa murmured in her sleep, and Jael belatedly reinforced her mental shields so that her need didn’t disturb her slumbering bond mate.

  The icy water sizzled against her overheated skin, filling the room with steam. Dung. If she didn’t pay attention to her core heat, she’d combust like a novice pyro. She stood under the spray, head down and hands braced against the thin waterproof sheeting of the temporary shower. She longed for the cool tile of her cabin on the mountain. She’d had too many lifetimes of camps and marches and battles. She’d like to be able to relax and enjoy just one breeding cycle with her bond mate—with no war or no responsibilities demanding that she suppress it or cut it short.

  Had they used the eggs she’d contributed yet to produce embryos to continue her pure bloodline? Surrogates might already have birthed little clones. She’d never been interested enough to ask. Maybe Alyssa would want to surrogate a child for her. Alyssa pregnant with her child. Jael’s sex pulsed like a drum. She closed her eyes and groaned. A hand touched her back and slid around to her belly. Alyssa, naked and soft, pressed against her back as she reached around with her other hand and turned the water dials to a warmer temperature.

  “While cold water might shrink a penis, it does not shrink girly parts. The brisk temperature will only refresh and sharpen your libido. Warm water and a few orgasms will relax you.”

  “Alyssa.”

  “Hush. Le
t me in. Drop your shields for me.”

  Jael’s head buzzed with the herbs in Second’s cakes. The shower felt like a warm summer rain on her skin, and Alyssa’s fingers like delicate blades of grass tickling across her belly. She fathomed the sweet ache of Alyssa’s desire to have her and instinctively pushed her hips back against Alyssa’s.

  Inside. I need you inside. Now.

  Alyssa laid her cheek between Jael’s shoulder blades as she slid her thumb into her from behind. Her fingers stroked Jael’s distended clit with every thrust of her thumb, and Jael gasped. Even though the herbs dulled her response, orgasm bowed her body after only a few strokes. Alyssa slowed her thrusts as Jael trembled through the aftershocks. But instead of withdrawing, she turned off the water and began to pick up the pace again. Jael groaned but didn’t protest.

  “Baby, can you do something for me?” Alyssa’s breathless whisper was urgent.

  Jael nodded. Her head was fuzzy, her focus centered on the fingers stroking across the bundle of nerves that were singing with pleasure between her legs. “Anything.”

  “I’m going to make you come again, but I want to come with you. You’re too tall though. Can you get down on your hands and knees so I can rub against you?”

  Jael hesitated. She wasn’t sure. But this was Alyssa. Trust and affection infused her. Alyssa was projecting. Jael’s impulse to resist softened. Alyssa’s hand felt so good between her legs, massaging her need. “Anything,” she whispered to herself more than to Alyssa. She sank to the floor and felt Alyssa go with her, never faltering in her thrusts. Then she felt Alyssa pushing, sliding against her hip, and she reached behind to find Alyssa’s wet heat. Alyssa gasped and pumped harder with her hips and her hand.

  Jael felt the sweet pressure boil up from her belly. Or was it Alyssa’s belly? It was impossible to tell because their orgasm felt like one huge tsunami building, building, building, curling and hanging for a long exquisite moment, then finally crashing and crashing and crashing until it lapped at the other side.

  She was barely aware of Alyssa rousing her, drying her, and leading her to bed. At least for now—with Tan miles away, Phyrrhos wingless for the rest of the day, and Kyle asleep in her bunk—she could finally get a few hours of rest.

  ❖

  Tan’s entire body ached. Her shoulders were sore from the hours Anya had left her hanging. The weeping welts on her back, buttocks, and thighs were sticking to her clothes and pulling open again when she moved. Her jaw was sore from the ball gag and her ass from—well, something Jael would never do for her. She was tired, but she had to take care of the one person who could stand in her way tonight.

  It was mid-morning before Alyssa and Second finally left the headquarters building. It’d taken every ounce of her control not to follow Kyle when she’d headed to the Advocates’ cottage to sleep. Her brain was too muddled by Phyrrhos to figure it out now, but something was drawing her to the blazer. She forced her attention back to the headquarters building. If her count was correct, only Jael remained. It was chancy. If Jael was alert, Tan could be toast. Instead of sending her to Anya, they could restrain her and put her in a medically induced coma until Phyrrhos’ heat subsided. That would be dangerous for her dragon horse. Their bond would be temporarily silent, and Phyrrhos might go mad.

  She positioned a crude ladder she’d lashed together from saplings so she could reach a second-floor window on the back of the building. It opened into the communal personal facility The Guard shared. She knew the window wasn’t locked because they raised it often to let the shower steam escape. She moved inside cautiously, glancing into the rooms as she crept down the hallway to be sure they were empty.

  She readied the short blowgun and a feathered dart filled with tranquilizer. She had to knock Jael out long enough for Phyrrhos to breed without interference. Jael would be furious, but she’d deal with that later. She froze when she saw the blond mane, the long naked back and sheet drawn up to barely cover the slim hips. Jael, not Second. She’d seen Second leave. Besides, she bunked in this building, too, and knew Second slept in the common room with the rest of The Guard now. Why would Jael be sleeping late in the day? Her brain and body warred as the fever screamed for her to jump the sleeping figure. Take her. No, she belongs to another. Bite her. Claim her. She has claimed another. You want her. No. Not her. Not anymore.

  Before she could examine this last thought, Jael stirred. She pushed up with her arms and groggily turned to face her. Tan reacted without thinking, lifting the blowgun and sending the dart on its way.

  “Tan, no.” Jael’s hand never made it to the dart embedded in her throat.

  Tan dropped the blowgun and caught her to extract the dart before she fell on it and broke the point off in her skin. She straightened Jael’s arm into a more comfortable position. Her hand trembled as it hovered over Jael’s back. One small indulgence. She touched the hair that reminded her of wheat fields, stroked her fingers down the strong back that carried the weight of The Collective, and bent to lightly kiss the broad shoulder. “I’m sorry, my friend. This is as it must be.”

  ❖

  Kyle practically inhaled the food Second gave her. Her cooking was way better than what they’d eaten in the dining hall the day before. In fact, she could have eaten an entire plate of those little chocolate cakes. Second had warned her not to share because they had herbs in them to help her relax and sleep, but she wouldn’t have shared anyway once she tasted them.

  She’d taken a hot shower and settled into bed and fell asleep with the help of Second’s special cakes and a little right-hand rendezvous. The image of a brown-skinned warrior with deep-chocolate eyes materialized as her orgasm gathered and burst through her. It was just the herbal haze. She shrugged it off and drifted into a sound sleep with her fingers still resting against her pulsing clit.

  She was awake and restless again after only four or five hours. Jael said mingling would invite too many questions, but she was too restless to sit in her quarters. So she dressed and slipped between the temporary buildings into the forest beyond.

  Kyle skirted the camp, staying several meters off the faint path that appeared to be the perimeter patrolled by the nightly guard. Most of the trees she’d seen near the villages were scrubby by Third Continent standards—coffee trees, slender banana trees with large fronds, or avocado orchards. But, in addition to the banana grove at the other end of the valley, a forest of tall mahogany trees surrounded the camp.

  She paused at the bottom of one particularly large tree with a double trunk that seemed to call to her, then scrambled up to a sturdy perch well concealed by the tree’s foliage. She could see almost the entire camp. People were streaming out of the dining facility, and she glanced up at the sun, realizing it was well after the noon hour. Her stomach rumbled at the thought. Dung. She wished she’d thought to bring a pro-chow bar from her pack. And a water bottle. Some spy she’d make. She squinted at the hillside where Phyrrhos and the old mare were grazing, barely able to make out their shapes. She began to make a mental list of the things she should take on their trip if she was going to be a successful spy.

  She was about to climb down when she heard someone coming down the trail. It was a woman, wearing the white armband of a medical worker, rather than a patrol guard. Kyle frowned when the woman left the trail and sat on a large fallen tree right below her perch. She opened a green backpack and pulled out a poncho that she draped over the log to sit upon. Then she drew out a white cylindrical item and stood, unfastening her pants and dropping them to her ankles. Kyle froze. Surely she wasn’t—Geez, in the woods? A low hum began, and the woman’s groan when she touched the vibrator between her legs confirmed her intent.

  Kyle shifted uncomfortably. She wanted to look away, to put her hands over her eyes and ears, but Phyrrhos’ call was pulling at her again. Maybe because it would be dark in a few hours. Maybe because she had yet to satisfy her agitation from the night before.

  The branches on the opposite side of her tree shift
ed. Dung. Was an animal in the tree with her? The hair on her nape prickled. The hum of the woman’s vibrator and her soft moans seemed to grow louder. There. It moved again. Kyle sucked in a breath. The penetrating, dark eyes that stared at her were familiar. The face paint was camouflage this time. Dressed in a dark green T-shirt and ragged cargo pants, Tan was barefoot. Had she been there the whole time? Had she watched Kyle climb up?

  Tan climbed stealthily down the tree—soundless and hardly stirring a leaf. Kyle wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t make a sound either.

  When Tan reached the ground, she slid a hand around the woman’s face to stifle her scream, pressed her mouth to the woman’s ear, and spoke words too low for Kyle to understand.

  The woman clutched at her chest and turned her face to Tan. “Stars, you nearly frightened the life out of me.”

  Tan glided like a jungle feline over the downed tree and snatched the vibrator from the woman. “What do you think you’re doing, half naked out here in the woods?”

  “There’s no privacy in those barracks, you know?” The woman sounded like a petulant child. “I’ve got needs.” Kyle nearly lost her balance when the woman shook her foot loose from her pants and spread her legs wide. “You haven’t been around the past week, and I’ve been a very bad girl.”

  Kyle could almost see, feel Tan vibrating with tension. Her irritated tone changed to a smooth purr. “What have you done?”

  “You know that black-banded boy who’s been drooling after me? I popped his cherry for him.”

  “You slut.”

  “I should be punished.” The woman slid off her seat onto her knees.