Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3) (42 page)

“What happened?” he asked.

“I released pheromones,” Landor said tightly, angry with himself for the lapse in control.  Rayne’s request for Con to be inside of her had been so hot, and so unexpected, that he’d responded involuntarily.  He simply hadn’t been able to help himself.

“So did I,” Ari admitted.

“Please,” Rayne moaned, her head thrown back, her hips moving in search of what she’d desired a moment earlier, but now desperately needed.

Con let go of her again, grasped his cock with one hand and positioned it at her entrance, groaning at the silky, liquid heat of her.  He arched his hips, entering her, gasping at the incredible pleasure that engulfed not just his cock, but his entire body.

Rayne pressed down eagerly, wanting all of him inside of her at once, but she was too small, and he was too large to move that quickly without causing her pain, something Con would never do even if she couldn’t feel it.  He held onto her hips firmly, controlling his penetration carefully.

“Lean your head back so I can rinse your hair,” Ari said in an effort to distract her a little.  At first she didn’t seem to hear him, but when he placed his hands on her shoulders and coaxed her back, she went along with it.  When she was leaning back too far to keep her hold on Con’s shoulders, Landor slid his arms beneath her, supporting her weight while Ari used a hand sprayer to rinse the soap from her hair.

Her position made it almost impossible for her to push against Con, giving him better control.  He relaxed a little and began to fuck her slowly and gently, entering her a little bit further with each thrust.  “She needs more,” Landor said after checking the state of her arousal and finding it almost as intense as when they did the soul link triad.

“I’m all the way in now,” Con said with a gasp.

“Good,” Landor said, already lifting Rayne back up so she could wrap her arms around Con’s neck.  “Fuck her hard now, Con.  She needs it hard and fast.”

Con didn’t need to be told twice.  He turned around, leaned Rayne’s back against the shower wall, and began thrusting hard and deep.  Rayne’s legs tightened around his waist, shifting their angles just enough that his cock now stroked her clit with each pounding thrust.  Seconds later Rayne threw her head back, her mouth opened wide in a silent scream as her entire body tightened, then exploded into an orgasm that sent lightening quick shocks of pleasure through her body. 

When Rayne came, her velvety soft sheath tightened around his cock like a fist, holding him fast as it rippled around him, drawing his orgasm out of him in a blinding rush so intense that for a long moment he couldn’t even breathe.  When his heart started beating again he let his head fall forward just above Rayne’s as they both gasped for air while ripples of pleasure continued to race over them both.

Before he’d caught his breath Rayne was moving restlessly against him, already in need of more.  He raised his head, lifted Rayne carefully away from the wall, and handed her to Landor.  “You don’t have much time,” he said.  Landor nodded, then carried Rayne out of the shower with Ari behind him.

Chapter 17

“They’re so close,” Salene said, staring through the observation port aboard the
Armadura
at a small, uncharted moon.  “Very close.”

After chasing Weeble’s yacht for ten days through an area of space unfamiliar to them, Salene had announced, finally, that the Gryphons were no longer moving away from them.  They’d thought Weeble meant to use the jump point near Onddo, but he’d continued on, passing Onddo without even slowing down.  When Salene felt them stop, Landor immediately ordered the
Armadura
to a halt.  Then, with Salene guiding them, they’d cautiously proceeded until spotting a small, uninhabited moon that didn’t even show up on their star maps. 

Salene was positive that the Gryphons were either still on Weeble’s yacht and orbiting the moon, on a space station orbiting the moon or, least likely, on the moon itself.  When they got closer, she was able to rule the moon out altogether, which left Weeble’s yacht, or a space station.  Rayne had no doubt whatsoever that a Doftle space station, hidden by Blind Sight, was orbiting the moon since there was no other reason for the yacht to stop there, and the Bearen-Hirus agreed. 

“We’re too new to speed traveling to do this without a clear destination point,” Con said.  “Especially since we can’t see anything with our eyes or our sensors.”

“We need one of the hand terminals I took from the
Facility
,” Rayne said.  “Not the future one, though.”

“What good will that do?” Landor asked.

“Wolef told me that these Doftle space stations each have their own mainframes.  If we get close enough for a hand terminal to connect to a mainframe, you can follow its signal to the space station, right?”

“You’re brilliant,” Con said, grinning at her.  “I’ll go get one of them.”  He stepped sideways and vanished. 

“Landor…,” Rayne began, but he stopped her with a gesture of his hand. 

“You and Salene are not going alone, Rayne, so please do not suggest it,” he said.  “It’s hard enough for us to know that you’re going over there at all.  Please do not ask us to watch you do it alone again.”

“I had no intention of suggesting such a thing,” she said.  He arched a brow.  “When I went into the
Facility
alone I knew that Wolef was there to help me, that I had a weapon, a key card, a hand terminal, and the ability to make myself invisible to the Doftle and all of their sensors.  And let’s not forget that you couldn’t speed travel then, either.  You can now, and that makes a big difference.  As for my going, you already agreed that there wasn’t any way around it.  Salene has to go to point the way toward the Gryphons, and you can’t make her invisible.  I can.”

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions,” he said.  “Please continue.”

Rayne reached out and gave his arm a gentle squeeze of understanding.  “I just wanted to say that the Doftle are very advanced, and very security conscious.  I suspect that an off ship data request will set off some sort of alarm, and that they’ll be able to trace it right back to us.  We’ll need to speed travel out of here as soon as you pick up on the signal source.  If we do it fast enough, they might not notice it.  Or if they do notice it, they might put it down to a glitch.  But only if it’s very brief.”

“You’re right, of course,” Landor said.  “Con and I’ll pay close attention when you begin.”

“What about Ari?”

“Ari will remain here and keep an eye on you through your crystal in case we have to leave you at any point.  When we find the Gryphons, he’ll speed travel over to us to help bring everyone back.”

Con reappeared and handed her one of the Doftle hand terminals.  She checked to make sure it wasn’t the future one, then booted it up.  The first thing it did was search for the nearest mainframe, just as she’d known it would.

“I can feel the source of that signal now,” Landor said immediately after the mainframe responded to the hand terminal’s request.  “How about you guys?”  Ari and Con both nodded.  “Let’s go,” he said, then placed one hand on Rayne’s shoulder, stepped sideways and disappeared.  Con placed one hand on Salene’s shoulder and followed, leaving Ari alone on the observation deck with his hand terminal so he could watch and listen through Rayne’s crystal.

Rayne and Salene shuddered uncontrollably the moment the scents of the Doftles’ space station reached them, but otherwise neither of them visibly reacted.  They found themselves in a sealed room lined with shiny white tiles.  The only object in the room was an enormous ball made of a clear, hard substance that looked like glass, but was more likely something much more durable.  Inside the ball was a constantly shifting mass of silvery liquid metal.  This was the mainframe.  The heart of the space station. 

Landor and Con walked all the way around it, but there were no openings, no ports, no panels, nothing that would give them access to the interior.  It was far too big to move, and they couldn’t attempt to destroy it until after they found the Gryphons and escaped the space station.  They returned to where they’d left the women and waited tensely for the hand terminal to finish its update.

“Okay, it’s done,” Rayne whispered.  Now familiar with the Doftle’s computer system, it took just a few moments to pull up a station floor plan.  She and Salene studied it for a moment.  “Which way are they?” Rayne asked.

“Up,” Salene said, pointing to a level near the top of the space station.  “About there, I think.”

Rayne nodded, tapped the screen to mark a location, then handed it to Landor.  “That room is labeled Supply Closet, but it looks awfully big.  If it really is a closet, I think we should go there next.” 

“I’ll go up and check it,” he said, handing the hand terminal to Con before vanishing.  Con studied the floor plan for a few moments, then returned the hand terminal to Rayne.  They waited silently for Landor to return which, luckily for their nerves, was just a few moments.

“It’s a really big supply closet, with three separate aisles and high shelves,” he said.  “If a Doftle happens to go inside, there’s plenty of room to stay out of their way so long as you keep your shield up.”

“Let’s go,” Rayne said.  Landor placed his hand on her shoulder, and Con did the same with Salene.  A couple of seconds later they all stood in the dimly lit room with floor to ceiling shelves holding thousands of linens, uniforms, and cleaning supplies.  Landor led them toward the furthest aisle from the door and they huddled together in a tight circle.

“Where next?” Rayne asked, offering Salene the hand terminal.  Instead of taking it, Salene closed her eyes and reached out with her senses. 

“They’re on this level,” she said after opening her eyes a few moments later.  “They’re conscious and growing increasingly distressed.”

“They probably sense you,” Landor said.  Salene nodded.  She’d already thought of that, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.  She could sense them, and if their emotions were strong enough, she could feel that, too, but that was all.  She couldn’t communicate with them, she couldn’t feel what they felt, and she couldn’t tell why they were distressed.

“Show me,” Rayne said, holding the hand terminal out again.  Salene took it, turned it so that the orientation was correct, studied the floor plan for a moment, then tapped the screen and handed it back. 

Rayne looked at the screen and bit her lip with worry.  “This whole section at the opposite side of this level is labelled
Tank Labs
.”

“Tanks,” Con growled softly.  “It’s the only way to hold a Clan Jasani male captive without killing him that I’m aware of.”

“Apparently, the Doftle know that,” Rayne said.

“But, that can’t be right,” Salene said.  “They’re conscious.  I’m certain of it.  They can’t be conscious while they’re in tanks, can they?”

“We’ll soon find out,” Rayne said, breaking the silence that had fallen as everyone tried not to imagine being conscious in a hibernation tank.  “We need to find out which one of those eight rooms they’re in.”

“We’ll go check each room until we find them,” Landor said.  “Then we’ll have a focus point so that we can speed travel both of you directly to them, wherever they are.”

“Be careful, please,” Rayne said, unable to prevent herself from saying it.

“Don’t worry,
Kisu
,” Landor said, smiling indulgently.  “We will not risk our future with you and our daughters can it be helped.  Please put your shield up before we leave.”

Rayne forced herself to return his smile, then she raised her shield, checking to be sure she was covering Salene, too.  When they could no longer see Rayne or Salene, Con and Landor stepped sideways, and were gone.  Shortly after the men left, Rayne and Salene saw a large shadow appear on the wall in front of them.  Whatever it was, it had long, pointed horns that stood straight up from the top of its head, and a thick, squat body.  

Rayne grabbed Salene’s arm and backed up slowly, their eyes glued to the shadow which came closer and grew bigger with each step it took.  Rayne glanced behind them, and saw that they’d backed themselves into a dead-end aisle.  There was nowhere for them to go.  She considered trying to shift into her bearenca, but there wasn’t enough room to do it without breaking a lot of shelves, which would make a tremendous amount of noise.  Worse, it would leave Salene exposed. 

She double checked her shield to be sure it was all the way up, and placed one finger to her lips, warning her sister to be silent.  Salene nodded, and they did the only thing they could, which was wait, and hope that being virtually invisible would be enough to convince whoever it was that they weren’t there.

When the owner of the shadow finally rounded the corner they both frowned, squinting in the dim light to see the tiny creature that now stood at the far end of the aisle.  It was only about five inches high, had a humanoid body with short arms and legs, a wrinkled face, enormous round brown eyes, and bright orange cone shaped horns that stood straight up from its head at least four inches, nearly doubling its height.  It was dressed in a black tunic that fell to bare feet that were as wide as they were long.

“Me cannot see you, but me know you do be there,” the tiny…being…said in a deep, gravelly voice that sounded like it belonged to someone much larger.  Rayne shuffled through all that she’d learned about different planets and sentient beings in the Thousand Worlds, but she couldn’t remember anything remotely like this tiny creature.  She looked at her sister who shook her head.  Since he didn’t appear to be immediately dangerous, Rayne lowered her shield.

The tiny being looked at them for a long moment during which Rayne felt that she’d been weighed, measured, and judged.  “Me do be Jinjie,” it said, breaking the silence.  “Be you who?”

“I’m Rayne, and this is my sister, Salene,” Rayne replied.  As she spoke, a small cloud appeared in the air above Jinjie, then slowly took the shape of a familiar golden dragon in miniature.  “Hello, Wolef.”

“Greetings,
Solin
,”
Wolef replied. 
“I apologize for getting here late.”