Captive Heroes (8 page)

Call it instinct. A male always sensed when a woman—or in this case women—was hunting him. Truth was, he was surprised only two women had been assigned to bring them to Death Valley. He imagined with him being such a prize—an ex-Death Valley member—his former comrades would have sent an army to make sure he made it there. Surely the Boys would pay handsomely to get one of their own back into the fold, even through Taylor wanted nothing to do with their ways.

Maybe because the two captors were involved in some hot and heavy relationship they were lax and did not follow protocol. Not his problem though. His problem was trying to keep from fucking this female while she slept.

Sighing, he nestled on the lush fern bed beside the Hero woman. Normally he would not go to such spoiled measures. Traveling alone or with his friend Jarod, he’d always slept on the hard ground. In this case, however, the woman seemed to bring out the protective side in him. He wished her to be comfortable when she slept. He wanted her aroused and ready for him when she was awake. Needed her, always.

Taylor opened his eyes as a frisson of shock zipped through him at that last thought. Yes, he craved for this female to want him just as Jarod’s female did him. But did he require her forever?

That concept had not entered his mind…until now.

He pushed himself over onto his side and once again watched the female. He’d been doing that quite a bit, hadn’t he? He simply could not get enough of looking into her pale blue eyes, or how her dirty, tangled, yellow hair wisped around her face whenever a warm breeze swept her cheeks.

She was a striking woman. Delicate in nature, yet strong physically. She did not order him around as the females he was used to did. This one was like a breath of fresh air and she smelled very good too.

Female. Sweet. Succulent.

His. All his.

Smiling, Taylor closed his eyes and slept.

* * * * *

Kayla opened her eyes and blinked at her surroundings. The gunmetal gray sky overhead looked sinister and brooding, not at all pristine and blue as it had yesterday. The air was still humid and held a heavy tinge of oncoming rain. Stormy weather.

She struggled to bring herself fully awake, but it was so snug and peaceful on this fern pallet, she found it quite difficult to move her aching body. The pace Taylor set had been brutal, but after having rested she understood the frantic speed had been necessary. Her legs and feet were heavy with an odd tiredness and sore from stepping on stones and sticks.

Her pussy, in direct contrast, was pleasantly tender from Taylor fucking her. At the thought of having unprotected sex with a stranger, anger roared through her for not being careful with birth control. Yeah sure, he’d said he was protected, but was he really? This wasn’t Earth and the occupants may have birth control for males. She would have to trust him for now, for sanity’s sake.

Hopefully when she found her brothers, they would verify this hunk’s story. God help her if they didn’t know anything about it and God help her if she didn’t find her brothers or sisters.

Stinging tears welled up in her eyes, blurring the sky. She needed to find her siblings and get them out of here. In the meantime, she would have to deal with this overwhelming sexual attraction she possessed toward a perfect stranger.

Sweet mercy!

She couldn’t wait to tell Piper and Kinley. They would absolutely flip over her Tarzan. Especially Kinley. She would be so jealous. Piper, on the other hand, would think her stupid for having unprotected sex. Piper wasn’t as outgoing with sex as Kinley and Kayla, and yet Taylor had said Piper had hooked up with his friend. Interesting. She couldn’t wait to see the guy who’d caught her straitlaced sister’s eye.

Kayla’s mind returned to Taylor and the sex they’d shared. It had been phenomenal. Best sex she’d ever had in a river. Hell, she’d never done it in a river before.

Back on Earth she’d done it in the backseat of a car and in a bed, but never like this. Never so hot. Never so instinctively wild and so dammed good. Too good to be true. Which meant something had to be wrong with her to so easily give herself over to this hottie. Yes, something was definitely wrong.

A whiff of tangy wood smoke drifted beneath her nostrils and alarm zipped along her nerves. Smoke meant people. Were their captors nearby?

Kayla bolted to sitting and winced, her body aches reminding her they were worse when she moved. Instantly she spied small spurts of orange flames from a campfire about twenty feet away, on the sandy outline of the river’s edge. Piles of rocks were set at each end of the fire and between them, about six inches above the flames, lay a horizontal stick with several small fish skewered onto it.

Okay, she hated fish. Always had. Despite her distaste for that particular seafood, her tummy suddenly growled up a storm as a juicy whiff wavered teasingly beneath her nostrils. Her mouth watered. So the guy knew how to cook fish.

But where was he?

Another frisson of alarm rippled though her. Had he left her here alone?
Oh shit!
She didn’t want him to be gone. She wanted him to take her to her brothers.

And she had to face facts. She wanted to experience more of the ripe, uncontrolled lust that ran through her body whenever she looked at him.

Kayla blew out a tense breath and gazed closer at her surroundings. He had to be here somewhere. She didn’t know how she suddenly sensed he was nearby, she just did. Was it instinct? Wishful thinking?

And to her surprise, she was…relieved?

Good grief!

She’d never been dependant or relied on a man in her entire life. Why start now?

Get a fucking grip, girl!

Taking a few deep breaths, she relaxed and stared at those crispy, sizzling fish. Once again her stomach growled.

Oh yeah, definitely famished here.

She hadn’t eaten since…well, the women who’d locked her in that cage had given her loads of food. Fruit mostly and some raw vegetables, but fruit and veggies only took a steak-and-potatoes kind of girl only so far. And evidenced by her not-so-trim figure, she’d certainly had her share of eating out at fast food restaurants since she couldn’t cook worth a damn.

Not that she’d never tried. Both her mom and dad were avid cooks. They’d loved teaching their kids the art of cooking. Unfortunately Kayla never shared their passion. She preferred to eat out. Especially since her obsession for studying veterinary medicine kept her in her dorm room most of the time.

Going out to eat and having occasional sex with a guy were the only times she pretty much left her room.

Kayla closed her eyes when another wave of worry threatened to turn her into a washer full of tears. Hers was a tight-knit family. They’d always looked out for each other. Had been raised that way. It was an inbred instinct to find her brothers and bring them back home. And if she was to carry out the mission of reuniting the family, then she’d best get her ass in gear, eat that fish, find that hunk and get moving.

From out of the nearby forest of waving green branches and towering ferns, Mr. Sexy Tarzan stud made an appearance. Immediately that insanely beautiful stab of longing crashed into her.

His lithe, fit body moved gracefully as he strolled along the sandy river shore toward the fire. His every step was sure and confident as he padded barefoot, his muscular arms laden with sticks for the fire. Her crash course in survival training had taught her certain types of wood caused less smoke than others, and he must have known this too as the fire was virtually smokeless.

But Taylor was anything but smokeless. The guy oozed fire and sexuality with his nicely tanned, nearly naked body, and she couldn’t get enough of looking at him. The craving for sex shifted through her again. An almost overpowering need for skin-to-skin contact with him. A wicked desire that stretched into her breasts and deep into her pussy.

She shivered as he dropped a few sticks onto the fire and lifted his head. He caught her gaze and, for a moment, she swore she had an entire body orgasm as he studied her with his stormy brown eyes. They seemed filled with both a restlessness to keep moving and a wild desire to fuck her again.

Heat flamed through Kayla as she dropped her stare to his cock, only to find it covered by a green, apparently fern-woven breechcloth, which truly only increased her urge to have his cock free so she could look at it again. And, of course, have him sinking deep inside her. Oh yes, she certainly wanted to send out “fuck me now” signals. His eyes narrowed slightly as if he’d read her mind.

Oh boy, talk about being dropped into a sensual inferno. Her body was tight and tense. Her heart was hammering away like a battering ram and damned if her breasts weren’t swollen and her pussy creaming, readying for him.

Wow, she needed to get a grip on herself. She needed food and to find her brothers and sisters. Not more scrumptious sex with him.

“I thought males weren’t allowed clothing?” she blurted.

Taylor stiffened for a second, and then the tips of his lips curled upward in an amused grin. She couldn’t stop the flames of embarrassment licking her cheeks.

“I’m wearing this so I have at least one or two seconds of hesitation before I fuck you again. Perhaps the extra moments will prevent it from happening.”

Kayla blinked in stunned shock. Had fucking her been so
bad
?

She turned her head from his intense gaze so he couldn’t see the hurt screaming through her. Why had he fucked her? She’d been like an animal in heat in the river. Had her sexual arousal frightened him away? Or maybe he didn’t want to use his sex slave-lovemaking skills on her?

Maybe he’d done it because of what he said about drinking water from the Fever Swamps? And he’d simply been administering first aid?

Before he’d taken her, she’d lost control of her mind and her senses. Her brain had shut down, and when he’d entered her all she’d wanted to do was lose herself in his powerful thrusts and the awesome orgasm that had followed.

The sex between them had been totally different than the mellow, ho-hum sex she’d experienced with guys in her previous relationships. On Earth, she’d always prided herself in maintaining control in sex and not becoming wild and mindless as the creatures she tended in her veterinarian clinic. Now she understood why her female patients needed to be mated when they were in heat.
She
needed to be mated!

What was going on with her? Whether it was the tainted water she drank, the fresh air or this hot stud, something instinctual had been unleashed. Some animal lust deep inside her craved Taylor.

She was so deep in thought, she hadn’t noticed the cooked fish on a piece of wood dangling in front of her face. It was the tantalizing scent that made her mouth water and her tummy growl.

“You must eat, gain your strength.”

Gain your strength for some more hot and heavy fucking
, his brown eyes announced as his heated look pierced her with electrical, animal magnetism.

He’d squatted on his haunches right in front of her. His body was tense and alert as he studied her. “Come, take it. Eat.”

Oh she’d love to eat
him
again. Kayla smiled inwardly and accepted the stick with the fish.

“We will stay here only until we finish eating. Then we must leave.”

Kayla’s face must have reflected the disappointment crashing through her.

“I do not think they will capture us, so you need not worry. We will not go at such a quick pace. But I will need to leave you alone many times to cover our tracks as we go.”

Leave her alone? Now was her chance to find out what he knew about her brothers.

“You mentioned the Hero brothers when…” Okay, she couldn’t verbalize what they’d been doing at the time. Her face went hot. “Earlier you spoke of my brothers. How far to them? Are they with Piper?”

Her hopes were dashed when he shook his head. “They are apart. The three brothers are farther away. They are with their women in the Outer Limits. We can get to it by water quicker than by land.”

“Are they well?”

Taylor smiled and nodded eagerly. “Very well.”

Was he really taking her to Piper? For all she knew he was just making up that he knew her sister as he went along. Would she be better off not believing him and separating from him? Using one of those opportunities of him being away from her to escape? Not that he was holding her against her will. Sexually yes, physically no. But seriously, was there a difference?

Enough thinking of the sex, Kayla girl. Get a grip and ignore those gorgeous muscles lacing his arms.

“How far away are my brothers?”

His broad, naked shoulders bunched up. “It depends.”

“On?” She slid one of the cooked fish off the stick. The scent of wild onions and some unidentified herbs drifted into her nostrils. They smelled delicious.

“The storms,” he answered.

Kayla followed his gaze to the gray sky.

Yep, it did look like rain and the sticky humidity made her skin clammy.

“It is not laced,” he replied softly as she inspected her meal.

“Laced? What?”