Dark Solstice (28 page)

“Feeling better?” he asked cautiously.

Rhea sniffed. “My doze is stuffy now and I don’t have any tissue,” she said tearfully.

“Wipe it on your sleeve,” he advised.

“That’s just disgusting!” she snapped, beginning to feel calmer.

He chuckled. Releasing her, he pulled his knife out of his boot and ripped a piece of his suit sleeve off, pushing it into her hands when she refused to look at him. Taking it gratefully, she dabbed at her eyes and finally blew her nose, although she hated doing anything that disgusting in front of him.

“Better?”

She nodded, too embarrassed by her outburst to look at him. He tucked a finger beneath her chin and forced her face up for his inspection.

“Just as I thought. A total wreck.”

Her gaze flew to his then. She sent him a look of ill usage. “Can I help it if I look like hell when I cry?” she mumbled sullenly, refusing to give in to the urge to smile back at him although the faint smile curling his lips and lighting his eyes warmed her.

He shook his head at her. “Ill tempered bitch,” he said without heat. “You’re going to have to learn to take teasing better, munch.” Draping his arm across her shoulders, he walked her to the pool at the foot of the water fall. “What do you think? The shower over there? Or the pool?”

Rhea looked at him in surprise.

“I don’t know about you, but I could use a bath.”

“The water will be like ice.”

“So we’ll take a very quick bath.”

It was tempting, tremendously tempting despite her certainty that she was right and the water was probably only a few degrees above freezing. “What about crawlies?”

Shrugging, Raathe reached down to pull his boots off, dropping them on the bank and then tore the closure of his suit open and shucked it. “I’m starting to feel too damned ripe to worry overmuch about it. If anything eats me—don’t come in.”

“That’s not funny! Maybe we shouldn’t?”

Raathe had already stepped in cautiously, however. She watched him uneasily until he’d moved deeply enough the water was lapping at his belly.

“Is it cold?”

He turned, sending her wry look. “Let’s put it this way—my dick ran into my belly and my balls tucked themselves in behind it. Yeah, it’s pretty fucking cold.”

The comment dragged a snorting laugh of surprise from her. She sat down and pulled her own boots off, though, and then peeled her suit off, although she thought it probably would’ve benefited as much from a thorough washing as she would. It was still spotted with dried blood. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a change of clothing that wasn’t in the same condition—or worse.

After eyeing him doubtfully for a moment, Rhea decided it would be easier just to take the plunge all at once, otherwise she was bound to lose her nerve. The icy water took her breath. For several moments after she emerged beside Raathe and stood up she had to struggle to drag air in. “C-c-cold!” she finally managed.

Raathe grinned at her. “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Her teeth chattering, Rhea steeled herself, splashed the icy water haphazardly along her arms and scrubbed at herself while she waded hurriedly toward the bank again. Raathe was right behind her. He caught her around the waist and tumbled down on their discarded clothes with her, pinning her beneath his weight.

His skin was as icy as her own from the water. She wondered if her lips were as blue as his, but only for a moment. The moment he dipped his head and enfolded her lips in his, warmth spiraled through her, chasing the shivers away. Warmth blossomed between them.

Lifting her arms, she skated her palms and fingers along his broad back, delighted with the feel of him, giddy with excitement that instantly began to pump through her with the first touch of his lips on hers. He broke from her lips after only a moment, nuzzling a path with his face along hers until he reached her throat and then sucking open mouthed kisses along her throat to her breasts. The heated pull of his mouth on first one breast and then the other sent her senses reeling. Impatient to have him enter her, she tugged at him, urging him to curtail the foreplay.

He lifted his head and froze, his gaze fixed on something beyond her range of vision. Her skin prickled at the sudden change in his expression. Rolling away from her abruptly, he grabbed his discarded knife. Rhea jolted upright and whirled to see whatever it was that he’d seen and sucked in a sharp cry at the horrible crawly thing slithering through the brush within a yard of where she’d been lying.

Raathe lunged at it, burying his knife in the thing almost to the hilt.

It squealed, its multitude of hairy legs flailing, the almost plated looking body twitching in its death throes.

Rhea dragged her horrified gaze from it with an effort and looked at Raathe.

“I don’t know about you,” he said dryly, “but that killed the mood for me.”

A hysterical urge to giggle hit her. She bit her lip, trying to stifle it, and finally covered her face with her hands, shaking with the effort to try to still the laughter bubbling up inside of her.

Raathe touched her shoulder lightly after a moment. “Are you alright, munch?”

She dropped her hands, met his gaze, and burst out laughing. “You should’ve
seen
the look on your face!”

He reddened faintly, but grinned at her. “I saw yours.” Settling beside her, he pulled her into his lap.

She looped her arms around him, struggling to regain control, and finally looked up at him. “You’re sure I can’t convince big Raathe to come out and play?” she asked teasingly.

He chuckled, but wryly. “I don’t know. The cowardly bastard has a thing about crawlies. It might be a while before he thinks it’s safe to poke his head out.”

Rhea grinned at him, lifting her hand to stroke his cheek and then tipping her head up to kiss him lightly on the lips. She uttered a shuddering sigh as she settled her head on his shoulder, wishing she could hold on to the moment just a little while and pretend there were no hunters even now stalking them.

With regret, she stirred after a few minutes, knowing Raathe had to be uncomfortable, and got up to dress.

Kyle found them while they were pulling their clothes on. She only had to glance at him to know what instantly went through his mind. Both men stiffened, studying each other through narrowed eyes.

Raathe leaned down almost casually, stepped on the thing he’d killed and pried his knife out of it, wiping the blade on the leg of his suit. Kyle glanced from Raathe to the dead thing, flicked a look at Rhea and seemed to force himself to relax. “I think they’ve found the bodies,” he said grimly.

Chapter Twenty Four

The announcement instantly brought Raathe to icy, cold attention. “We didn’t exactly make an attempt to hide them,” he said coolly. “What brought you to the conclusion they’d reached the scene?”

“I jogged back a couple of miles and climbed up the wall to get a look.”

Raathe frowned. “That must have been a hell of a vantage point. We’ve covered nearly fifty miles since then.”

Kyle sent him a look. “Laser fire,” he said succinctly. “Unless it was a thunderstorm inside the cavern I can’t think of anything else that would’ve lit the place up like that. Not that I could pinpoint it at that distance, but it seemed like a reasonable guess.”

Raathe’s frowned deepened, but it was more from confusion than anger. “What the hell would they be firing at?”

Kyle shrugged, pointing at the thing Raathe had killed. “Maybe they found something they didn’t like the looks of?”

His brow cleared as he glanced at the dead thing. “Scavengers?” he murmured thoughtfully. “That would make sense. It would also pin down their current location … if we make the assumption that it was scavengers they were shooting at.”

Kyle studied him a moment and finally shrugged easily. “I don’t suppose we can count on that. For all we know they could just be firing at random to see if they can flush us out.”

Raathe agreed, his expression grim. “I suppose it would be too much to hope that they’d be fighting among themselves, but I’m thinking they won’t be too happy when they discover the bodies—if they haven’t yet. They’re a lot braver when they’re carrying the only weapons. Once they find the men they’ll know we’re heavily armed. I doubt whatever bonus the warden’s offering will be nearly as appealing if they think they might not get the chance to enjoy it,” he said sardonically.

“You think they might turn back?” Rhea asked hopefully, drawing both men’s attention.

Kyle and Raathe exchanged a look. “Not likely, but it could demoralize them enough to slow them down—might even make some break ranks and run if they encounter resistance. More likely, though, if they’re scared shitless they’ll be shooting at anything that moves. A coward is a lot more dangerous—and unpredictable—than a man that isn’t,” Kyle answered.

Rhea had no trouble understanding that. Terror, she knew now, had a way of tearing away the thin veneer of civilized behavior and making a person behave totally irrationally. “We should keep moving then?”

They considered it, scanning their surroundings, and she thought Raathe must be weighing the strategic aspects of the area. He shook his head finally. “Too much cover,” he said firmly. “At the rate they’re moving—assuming Justice is right—it’ll take the warden’s cream puffs at least two or three days to catch up, though. Unless we hear any more skimmer engines I think we can afford to rest here until tomorrow. I want to keep as much headway as possible, though. I don’t want to be caught off guard or out in the open. As long as they’re trailing, we can take the time to set up another ambush.”

Rhea didn’t know whether she liked the idea of staying or not. She was exhausted. She didn’t know why it was that she couldn’t seem to get enough rest, but weariness was dragging at her even now and she’d already fallen asleep before they’d stopped the night before, slept for hours after they
had
stopped, and then slept throughout the trip to their current location. Even as disorienting as the short hours of light that constituted ‘day’ in the caverns was, that should have been enough sleep.

Then again, she wasn’t certain she would get a wink of sleep in this place—not after the close encounter with Martian wildlife. It looked far more like an insect than an animal, but it was as big as a house cat.

Raathe was studying her when she emerged from her reverie, one blond brow lifted questioningly.

“I was thinking about the crawlie,” she confessed.

Raathe shrugged. “There’s bound to be more—probably a lot more. We just haven’t spotted any before because they’re shy. We’ve got a bit of light left. Maybe we can rig up something to keep them at bay?” He slid a glance at Kyle. “There’s water for bathing. Rae and I already took a dip. You might want to bathe while you’ve got the chance.”

Kyle narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You suggesting I’m ripe, Raathe?”

Raathe shrugged indifferently, turning away. “I’m just pointing out that there’s a whole pool for bathing and we don’t know what’s down the road. I thought you might want to take advantage while I set up a camp … since you went out to reconnoiter.”

Rhea bit her lip and turned away, unable to keep a straight face. She cleared her throat. “I think I’ll get the other suits and try to clean them,” she managed to say in a shaky voice, following Raathe back to where they’d left the skimmers.

“You think he’ll fall for it?” she asked Raathe in a low voice when she thought they were out of hearing.

He cocked his head, listening. A few moments later they heard a loud splash. “I was hoping he was an ‘all in’ kind of guy,” Raathe murmured, grinning.

“Fuck!”

Rhea burst out laughing when she heard Kyle’s yelp.

“Wicked girl!” Raathe chided her. “Poor bastard won’t be able to piss for an hour. It’ll take at least that long to coax his dick out.”

“You’re the one who set him up,” she pointed out.

“I didn’t see you warning him.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t want to be a spoilsport. Anyway, it’s invigorating.”

Kyle’s lips were still blue when she returned with an armload of soiled suits. He sent her a narrow eyed glare, but his teeth were chattering too hard to speak. “Finished already?” she asked as innocently as she could.

He gave her a look as he jerked his suit over his shoulders and she chuckled.

He paused, studying at her keenly.

“What?” she asked, a little disconcerted.

He shook his head, smiling faintly. “I suppose it was worth freezing my balls off if it makes you laugh,” he said wryly.

“That just makes me sound mean,” she said uncomfortably.

“It
was
mean. I’m not kidding. My balls are probably floating around there somewhere. Next time I’ll know better than to jump in.”

Rhea snickered. “I jumped in, too. I thought it would easier than trying to ease my way in.”

Kyle settled beside her, flicking a caressing finger along her cheek. “You should’ve stayed to watch if you were going to get such a kick out of it. You could’ve enjoyed it more.”

She scanned his face. Seeing only amusement, she smiled. “I was afraid you’d figure out what was up.”

“I had my suspicions,” he said wryly.

“But you went for it anyway?”

He shrugged. “I figured Raathe was right.”

He took one of the suits she’d carried down to the water and began dunking it up and down in the water. Surprised but happy to have help, Rhea took another and mimicked his motions, grasping the fabric and scrubbing it together. “You’ve done this before,” she said after a moment.

He sent her a sharp glance but returned his attention to his task. “Some of the outer colonies are pretty primitive.”

“You grew up on one of the outer colonies?” she asked in surprise.

“I’ve been to pretty much all of them at one time or another.”

She frowned faintly, realizing he hadn’t actually answered the question. “What did you do before … before …?” Rhea let the question trail off awkwardly.

Footfalls behind them drew both their attention.

“He was military. Isn’t that right, Justice?”