Don't Call Me Kitten! (13 page)

George had
hardly stopped the Bentley when Kit grabbed the Heckler and Koch
and went to assist, leaving only him and Helena in the car. “Stay
here Helena. Believe it or not we’re all bullet proof. You’ve done
your bit. Keep the doors locked in case those mugs double back
around. You’re totally safe in here. We’ll be back soon.”

It was
beginning to piss Helena off. Twice in two days she’d let other
people take the heat but if everything Kit had told her was true
then George was right. “Okay but damn well bring my new BFF back in
one piece.”

George
couldn’t help saluting. “Will do mam.”

Helena
groaned. “Go George.”

Michael had
been scanning the road up ahead when he finally spotted the
offending SUV. “There they are. Kiana, you and Hugh go after the
bloke that went to the right and Sarah and I will go left.”

They grabbed
the mini uzis that Andrew had issued them with and made for the
bush.

Michael felt a
moment’s frustration. “Damn, I’ve lost sight of him.”

Sarah stared
at the ground a moment then ahead at the trees on a small ridge.
The signs were as clear as a map to her. She knew exactly where her
prey was. “He’s behind that mound waiting for us in ambush. Keep
going in that direction. He’ll dismiss me as no threat. I’ll come
around from behind.”

Michael didn’t
like having either of his women taking risks but he knew they’d
kick his ass if he tried to stop them. “Okay but don’t try and take
him on until I get there.” He watched her receding back for a
moment as she disappeared, barefoot, into the bush, easily
camouflaged by her dark skin colouring and army green shorts and
tank top she prefered to wear. Doing his best impression of an
official looking cop, which he was, he went to attract the villains
attention while Sarah made her play. The ping of a bullet hitting
his shoulder made him swear. Instinct he supposed. In truth it had
passed right through him leaving him unharmed. He gave a quick
thanks to the all-spirit for the miracle of the geneticist’s DNA
treatment, the retrovirus that had healed both Sarah and him of
their mortality. Kiana was alright, she was Malakim, immortal from
the start. As long as it wasn’t the Din firing at any of them they
were fine. But the villains didn’t know that. He wondered what was
going through that guy’s mind right now as Michael kept walking
towards the ridge, ignoring the increasing stream of bullets coming
his way. Yeah, if it was him right now he’d be wondering if he was
caught up in some sci-fi plot and about to meet his maker.

The bullets
stopped. Michael swore. Running the rest of the way he reached the
top of the climb and looked over. Sarah had the man on the ground,
already handcuffed and was idly standing there, a carefully aimed
foot applying pressure to the man’s kidneys. “I told you to wait.”
Michael swore again.

Ally knocked
on the guys’ door. No answer.
Figures!
At this time of the
morning the half men half lizards were probably out on their back
porch dozing in the sun, trying to get their body temperatures up
for the day. She wandered around the back and spied Mendal half
asleep in his cloud chair, a kind of sophisticated hammock, his
morning cuppa getting cold on the coffee table beside him. She
cleared her throat.

Mendal’s eyes
flashed open, instantly alert, their tangerine irises dazzling her.
He visibly relaxed when he realised who was there. The smile that
etched his face was almost sweet, as much as you ever got a smile
out of the two ex-Din. “Oh, hi Ally, sorry, didn’t hear you.”

“Relax Mendal,
I just came around to see if you were up and whether you might be
interested in making a start on looking at those electrical
diagrams I’ve drawn up.” She looked around for a seat and spied an
old cane chair. The whole place was whatever the guys had been able
to scrounge and repair. They hadn’t wanted charity from the locals.
Accepting use of the abandoned house had been hard enough. Their
only prized possessions were the two cloud chairs that hung from
their back verandah, paid for by doing odd jobs for the townsfolk.
Of late they’d finally given in to Simon’s insistence that they
draw a wage for the projects they were working on.

“How’d your
date go with George last night?”

Ally looked
aghast. “Date! It was just a meal. We shared recipes and
engineering ideas. I was afraid he wanted more but it was time to
make it clear that I value him as a friend, nothing more.”

“Ouch, that
must have hurt. You know’s he’s been hankering after you for a long
time.”

Ally’s
shoulders sagged a little and she struggled with the guilt. “I
know. I was sort of hoping he’d grow bored with chasing after me
but he only seemed to be getting more earnest over time.”

“The chase is
often like that for us guys, it just makes us want what we are
chasing even more. You did right to come clean with him and let him
know you weren’t interested.”

“I just don’t
want to lose him as a friend. I love his company and professionally
he’s a great sounding board for some of my more way out ideas.”

Mendal was
curious what was going through that vast brain of hers. “Like
what?”

“Oh, ... like
harnessing dark energy to supply the town’s energy needs and get us
off the grid.”

“Is that all?
Yeah I think if the four of us put our minds together we might
crack that. “

“You really
think so? You sure George will still want to work with us on
it?”

“We’ll all
support him through this Ally, we’ll make sure he know’s his
friendship is valued. Why don’t we all have a pizza night tonight
and have a look at your ideas.”

“That would be
awesome.”

“Can I ask you
one thing though Ally?”

“Sure.”

“If you’re not
interested in George is there anyone else who takes your
fancy?”

Shit, she
hadn’t seen that one coming. Her faced flashed red as she blushed.
Her subconscious betraying her, raking her eyes over his body. “I
um, let’s not go there Mendal.”

Mendal
casually extracted himself from his cloud chair and stalked over to
her. “Why Ally, do you actually fancy me?”

“Ah, shit,
it’s complicated.”

“I’m an
engineer, I like complicated. Tell me more.”

“Bugger, I
really didn’t want either of you to ever know I was interested in
you more that professionally, how are we going to all work together
if this all goes South.”

“Either of
us?”

“Yeah well, I
rather fancy you and Upal. Both. There I’ve said it. It’s okay, I
know it’s just a stupid fantasy. Put it down to an overly active
imagination and too many menage novels. Now can we pretend I didn’t
just say all that and get back to talking about energy systems.
Where is Upal anyway?” Flustered, she desperately hoped that would
change the discussion.

“Upal’s still
in recovery. His heart stopped when the virus took hold. Jnarn, Doc
and Sally were with him all night.”

“Shit, bugger
I’m saying that a lot today.”

Mendal
laughed. “You do seem to have a way with swear words this morning.
It’s alright though. Simon and his mother said Upal would pull
through. He’d better. I’m up next.”

Ally visibly
paled. “Maybe you should hold off until they work out why his heart
stopped.”

Mendal reached
his hand out to lightly stroke her cheek, wonder warming his eyes.
“You really do care don’t you?”

Ally thought
her own heart would stop as Mendal touched her face. “I do.”

Mendal
frowned, a seriousness seeming to weigh him down. “It would not be
that easy loving us you know.”

Damn. That
statement only wetted her appetite. Challenges were worth living
for. “For goodness sake, why? Apart from the whole two guys and one
girl thing there’s nothing unusual about how this all works.”

“Ah but there
is. You see Upal and me, we aren’t quite built the way you’d
imagine.”

Well that was
a surprise. If anything it had her slightly intrigued. “What do you
mean exactly? I know you were both human, each possessed by a Din.
When the goddess forgave you your karma she merged your Din
oversoul with your human body and you ended up with the orange eyes
and the ability to shapeshift into your lizard form. Unless you’re
going to eat me I can’t see a problem with any of that.”

“I’m glad
you’re open minded but... Hell. It would be easier if I could just
show you.”

“Well then
show me.”

“You won’t
take it the wrong way? You won’t think I’m flashing you if I strip
out of my clothes?”

Ally blushed a
little more. “I’ll be a pure scientist.” She lied.

“Yeah, sure.
Well okay then. Purely in the interests in the science then.” He
absentmindedly unbuttoned his shirt and turned his back to her.
Showing the green, shiny like enamel scales that covered his spine
and much of his upper back, tapering off down between his
buttocks.

Ally admired
the beauty of his back. No problem there. “Is that all?”

“Fraid not.”
Mendal kept his back turned to her and almost shimmied out of the
loose pants he’d been lounging in. Then turned.

Ally sucked
her breath in, in shock. “Oh my, you’ve got no...”

“Oh yes I
have. They’re retracted within me when not in use.”

“They?”

“You’d have to
get me aroused to really see them. I won’t ask that of you.”

Ally simply
grinned like a cheshire cat. “Um... purely in the interests of
science.” She stretched out her hand and stocked his balls lightly.
“Wow.” Okay they weren’t retracted now. The sight of them held her
in fascination.

“They’re
called hemipenes, common enough amongst reptiles. They can be used
alternatively or together. Some female reptiles have a divided
vagina that connects with two uteruses you see.”

“Well , I’ll
be. Can I touch, purely in the interest of science of course?”

“Of course.”
He choked.

She stroked
the length of one of them and noticed a lot of bumps in the
texture.

“There’s your
problem.” Mendal commented sadly. “When I come those bumps become
spines that would latch onto the surface of a vagina, holding me in
place until I finished releasing my load. I guess they evolved for
wilder more competitive environments where a male might get
dislodged by another male during mating.”

Ally winced.
Ouch. But it didn’t quell her curiosity. “I can’t imagine that
would be pleasurable for the female lizard on the receiving
end.”

“Actually they
don’t seem to mind, what little I know of the act.”

Now that
really surprised Ally. “So you’ve never actually done it?”

“Oh I
masturbate okay, carefully. I just haven’t mated. We mate for life
you see. A chemical in the spines is injected into the female,
making her fertile and at the same time branding her as ours. I’m
told it’s an exquisitely painful and pleasurable experience for the
female but they don’t seem to mind doing it all again. The female
smells subtly different to other males of our kind afterwards.
Males won’t touch another male’s mate once he’s marked them in this
way.”

Ally pondered
the puzzle in her head. “So if I want to be with both of you we’d
have to find a way for both of you to come in me at the same
time.”

Mendal’s eyes
widened with shock. “You’d still actually consider us even knowing
what you know now?”

“Hey we’re
engineers, where there’s a will there’s got to be a way.”

Mendal shook
his head in amazement. He bent down to grab his clothes and quickly
redressed then he pulled Ally up from her chair and embraced her.
His mouth taking firm possession of hers.

She felt a
more lizard like tongue than she’d expected flick into hers,
tasting her. That this exotic being would even consider her awed
her. She responded with her own tongue, diving in and jousting with
his. They were both oblivious to the door opening and the
individual who stood there staring in shock.

Mendal
breathlessly broke away from the nuzzle and looked up to see his
friend had recovered from Jnarn’s ongoing experiment. “You’re
okay?”

It wasn't’
clear whether Upal was pleased to be home, shocked by what Ally and
Mendal had been doing, or jealous. “Look’s like you’re pretty okay
yourself. I hope you explained the difficulties to her. You know
what.”

“I showed her,
she wants both of us anyway.” He emphasised the both.

Upal’s face
lit up with a sudden burst of joy. “Does she now?” Then he frowned.
“But what about George?”

“George wasn’t
ever in the picture apparently.”

Upal relaxed.
“Well damn Ally, you must be pretty good at blocking your mind. I
never would have guessed. Mendal and I have been mourning for a
long time that we’d never be able to have you as anything more than
a friend.”

“I guess I
should have come clean with all of you sooner. I’m truly sorry if I
led George on in any way. I really wasn’t trying to. I finally
realised he was just going to keep trying. I kept my dream of you
two to myself because I didn’t want to wreck what we all had.”

Upal
approached her from behind, until he was so close she could feel
his hot breath in her ear. His tongue flicked out to lick the lobe.
Then he whispered in his deep richly toned voice, the rumble
reverberating through her body. “Then we’d all better talk a lot so
we can get to the part we all want.”

A small part
of Ally yelled at her that she was completely and utterly insane
but she throttled the thought and enjoyed the moment, sandwiched
between her two fantasy guys. “Somehow we’ll make this work.”

The cops had
carted the baddies away and she had finally made it here. Helena
roamed around the her new home, exploring every nook and cranny.
The affectionate female tabby cat that came with the place followed
her everywhere, rubbing up against her whenever she paused to look
at something. She guessed the cat was making a claim on her.