Lovers of the Galaxy: Book Three: Raiders of the Lost Heart (14 page)

***

Turning off everything in the little kitchen, he
followed his brother into their room. Their woman was exhausted,
falling asleep in Jaxxon’s arms before Acwel and Badden left. They
both grinned at her before they left.

It had been a close call earlier. He knew Jaxxon was
still shaken up, if it hadn’t been for Zander, he wouldn’t be
standing there in the room with his brother.

He turned to take a shower, Jaxxon’s words had him
turning. “She’s going to find out. Don’t you think it best you tell
her?”

“What tell her about my failure?” He snapped making
Venus stir in her sleep.

“It wasn’t your failure and you know it. You saved
Acwel’s life, and Zander saved yours. You are too hard on yourself
brother. We have help now. You don’t have to do everything by
yourself.” Jaxxon moved to him and clasped his shoulders. “I don’t
want to lose my brother, and I know Venus couldn’t handle losing
you. Let others help, that is what they are here for.”

“We’ll see.” Was all Volund said, and made his way
into the bathroom, a hot shower to wash the stench off his skin.
Pushing the button, warm water ran over him as soon as he stepped
into the small box like enclosure. In some ways, he could see why
Venus loved to take these showers, it did release some of the
tension in his stiff muscles.

The swish of the shower door opening was his only
warning, before Venus was there with her arms around his waist from
behind. “You should have told me,” she whispered and her chest
trembled against his back, and he knew she was crying.

Turning, Volund wrapped his arms around her, and held
her. “I’m here Venus and all is well.” He kissed the top of her
head.

“Please give some of the responsibility to some of
the others. You can’t do it all Volund, and I need you. We need
you.” She took his hand and placed it on her lower stomach. “Make
love to me Volund. I need you in me and surrounding me.”

Not saying a word, he slid his hand down and pushed
two fingers inside her, making sure she was ready for him, and she
was. Lifting her up, he carefully backed her up to the wall,
sliding his cock into her tight pussy.

His movements slow, Volund lowered his head and
kissed her full lips softly. She moaned into his mouth, her small
tongue slipping into his mouth. Venus was his miracle and his life.
Taking control of the kiss, he devoured her. His tongue dancing
with hers, all the while he worked his cock in and out of her body.
Each time he entered her, Volund made sure to hit that special
little spot inside her, rubbing in until she trembled and came in
his arms.

Breaking the kiss, Volund held her face in-between
his hands. Her legs wrapped around his waist. “I love you Venus and
I’m never leaving you.” He tried to reassure her with his body and
words, shooting his seed into her as he stared into her eyes.

Turning them, he lowered her legs and placed her
under the warm water. He washed her, before scooping her back up
and stepping out of the shower. Jaxxon was there with a towel
taking her out of his arms.

“She heard everything we said. Now, I expect you to
go right to sleep young lady. No more worries,” Jaxxon said drying
her off, and pushing her out the door, as he slipped into the
shower.

“Don’t you need me?” she asked over her shoulder and
his brother smiled.

“Rest when we wake I’ll give you some loving.” Jaxxon
reassured her as he placed his hand on her butt cheek and
squeezed.

“Come, he’ll be right behind us.” Volund crawled into
their bed and she moved into the arms he held out for her.

“I was thinking about letting, Acwel and Badden help
with security. Zander and Remus, well we’ll have to wait and see
what happens with them. Now, sleep Little Warrior.”

She closed her eyes when Jaxxon took his place on her
other side. Venus was safely secured between them and at once he
heard her little snores.

“You know, Zander and Remus are still talking with
Tapio?” Volund said to his brother, who nodded. “I’ll give them one
warning tomorrow and give them a choice. I owe them that,” Volund
closed his eyes letting sleep take him.

Exhausted in a good way, Venus couldn’t stop smiling.
It was amazing how her Gram, Charlotte and Melinda took control of
all those children. Even though they spent a lot of time working on
the new security for the building, Acwel and Badden still made time
to join Gram playing with the children.

Zander and Remus had been in the new security office
with Volund and Jaxxon for the past hour, and she was getting
nervous.

Charlotte handed her a bottle of juice. “What are
they talking about in there?”

“Thanks.” Venus took a drink and studied Charlotte,
as she kept looking at the closed doors.

“You really do like them don’t you?” Venus asked and
grinned when Charlotte’s cheeks turned pink.

“I should be afraid of them, but I’m not. Whenever
they’re around, I feel my insides grow hot. Sometimes, I want to
fall into Zander’s arms and other times, I want to rip his head off
because of the things he says.”

She snorted. “I’m afraid that is the way it is with
all of them.” Venus nodded to the warriors outside the windows,
working on the 2nd floor below, building the bridge to the next
building.

“I’m not going to lie to you. Zander and Remus are
connected to a person called Tapio. This man is bad news from what
I get from Jaxxon and Volund. Tapio sent Zander and Remus here
after Miln and Oshki. And not to do anything good to them. ”

Charlotte gasped. “Well, if they think for one minute
they’re going to touch Miln they better stay away from me. If it
wasn’t for them my sister would be dead.”

The door to the office opened, and Zander and Remus
stepped out. Anger radiated off them as they stepped out of the
room. Charlotte stepped towards them, but Venus shook her head.

“No, let them decide. It’s up to them if they stay
here or not,” she whispered in her ear. “You want them to come to
you. They need to choose.”

Both men took in the room and spotted Charlotte. They
stood there staring at each other for a moment, before disappearing
from the room.

“Well I guess they decided,” Charlotte said and
looked over her shoulder at her.

“Don’t give up hope. They could have gone to cut
their ties with Tapio, we never know. They did save Volund’s
life.”

Volund and Jaxxon came out of the room making their
way to them. “Well? What are they going to do? Can we count on
them?”

“Wow, one question at a time,” Jaxxon said and hugged
her, before turning his attention on Charlotte.

“They’re staying, but they are not happy right now.
It seems Tapio kept them in the dark about many things and right
now their furious. They’ll be back.”

“Are they still going to go after Miln and Oshki?
Because if they are, I won’t have anything to do with them. Miln
saved our lives.” Charlotte looked around the room.

Volund stepped next to Charlotte and took her hands
into his. “We’ve already explained this to them. If they agree to
stay with us they must give up this quest. I’m afraid we have to
wait now. Tell you what. You have been stuck in here for the past
three days taking care of your sister and the children. Why don’t
you come with us. We’re going to take Venus to see the progress of
the wall we are building and the house we picked out.”

Her Gram and Melinda came up behind them smiling.
Melinda spoke. “Go, you need to get outside for a little while.
We’ll take care of the kids.” Her sister smiled and Gram
nodded.

“When you come back you can tell your sister all
about it,” Venus said.

Grinning from ear to ear, Charlotte clapped her hands
together excited. “Let me grab my gun. It might be old fashioned,
but it can take the head off any of those creatures. Plus, I want
to try those pants you gave us. I think they might be better for
this trip than this old dress.”

She took off running to her room and her sister
laughed. “Thank you Volund, Venus. She’s been going nuts, stir
crazy over being inside, and worrying about those two big lizards,
Charlotte needed this.”

Volund actually looked embarrassed and Venus winked
at Melinda. “It’s our pleasure. I just can’t wait to be able to
take the children out. They need to run and play, but right now
it’s just not safe enough.”

“If all goes according to our plans, the third
building we are connecting today will have space to be used for the
children to work off some steam. Badden noticed the swings and
things at the school and he thinks the bottom floor would be big
enough for a few such things to be moved there,” Jaxxon informed
her.

“That would be great! The kids will love it and till
we can clear and wall off some of the city, it will have to do.”
Venus hugged Jaxxon. “Gram, you give Badden a hug for me and tell
him thank you. I should go get my gun.”

“There is no need.” Volund flashed out of the room
for a second, then was back with her gun. “I also thought we would
allow the pets to come with us. Tonto needs to walk some, exercise
that leg. The sun is out and it’s not too cold.”

She was even getting excited, as Charlotte ran into
the room. “It sure is weird wearing these, but they do feel a lot
better than that dress, and the petticoat.”

Her sister gasped and her eyes grew large. “Charlotte
you look great!” Her sister walked around her. “I think I’m going
to change while you’re gone. It looks so comfortable, not so
restricting.”

Smiling, Venus hugged Gram, and took Jaxxon’s hand,
while Volund took Charlotte’s. “Don’t worry, I’ll have Melinda in
jeans and a sweater by the time you get back. Matter of fact I
think we need to get the children some new clothes too.”

“If I remember right, there is children’s store about
half block from the house, we’ll stop in there and I’ll show Volund
what we need. He can send some men back for what we choose.” Venus
waved goodbye, when Jaxxon transhifted them downstairs.

It was the first time she’d been downstairs since the
Bone Eaters had gotten in, and she was surprised to see not one
spot of their acid blood anywhere. It even smelled better than
before.

“We’ve cleaned the whole downstairs, reinforced the
windows and doors. Since the lab will be next door with our new
security headquarters, we thought we could use this as a meeting
place. I don’t want anyone on the bottom floor for now, for
security reasons, but when we are more secure, this is a useful
space.” Volund then called for Tonto and their pets.

She liked the idea. Before Volund and his brother had
come here, Venus had always felt uncomfortable down in the main
floor alone and vulnerable. Upstairs there was a level of
protection with the stairs and the traps she’d set, and now, with
the security systems that her men and the others had installed.

“Ready?” Jaxxon nodded to the door where two other
men waited.

“And these are?” Venus nodded to the two men she
hadn’t talked to before. One was much taller than her men, by at
least a half foot, and he was bald. There was what looked like some
form of old tattooing on his head. He had a strange looking thing
in his ear lobe that actually…

“What is that? Is it moving?” She scooted closer to
Volund, a little scared of the thing.

Charlotte leanedclose to her, “Looks like a miniature
rat and it looks to be gnawing on his ear.” she whispered. “You
need me to shoot it boy?” Her friend asked the warrior, who laughed
and shook his head.

“Charlotte, Venus this is Chuck-Torr and Marsh.
They’ll be accompanying us on our venture today,” Volund introduced
the new warriors.

“Charlotte, as for the animal at my ear, it’s a
common practice of the warriors where we come from to carry one. If
any foreign parasites that try to attach themselves to us, this
little guy will eat them. He’s actually quiet harmless, unless he
feels threatened.” Chuck-Torr winked at Charolette, and she
blushed.

“Now, you go and stop that, Chuck. It’s alright if I
just call you Chuck isn’t it?” Charlotte asked. , Zander and Remus
came out of nowhere, snarling at Chuck and Marsh.

“What do you think you are doing?” Zander demanded of
Charlotte, standing in front of her. Remus stood off to the side,
glaring at the two new warriors Venus and Charlotte had just been
introduced to.

“Excuse me? You did not just yell at me! I was just
being nice to the boy, if it’s any of your concern. Now get lost,
we’re going on a walk. Come on Venus.” Charlotte latched onto her
arm and dragged her around Remus and Zander.

“Let’s go. Volund and Jaxxon, ignore those two
thugs.” She waved her other hand and waited for Venus to open the
door.

“Where are you going?” Remus asked, barely keeping
the snap out of his tone. “It’s not safe out there!” Venus punched
in the code, and the steel doors swung open.

The two warriors Chuck and Marsh, went out first, and
nodded that it was safe to proceed.

“We’re taking the animals out, and the woman needed
to get away for a little while. You are more than welcome to join
us if you have made up your mind to stay with the settlement. If
not...” Volund looked at the two red warriors. “Maybe it’s best you
don’t come. Charlotte, her sister, and the rest of the women will
be meeting all the men here soon enough anyway.” Volund turned to
follow Venus and Charlotte, hiding a grin.

Sure enough, in a matter of seconds both Remus and
Zander were following behind them. “Charlotte does not need to meet
any other warriors,” Remus stated and Zander snarled.

Wanting to break the tension, Venus started a
monologue on points of interest along their route. She pointed to
the fountain as they passed. “That use to be so beautiful when it
was working. At night, we had different colored lights under the
water that shot up out of the fountain and came back down. It
looked like it was raining colors. Volund, I see that your men have
cleared the cars and debris from the street here.”