Unleashing the Storm (19 page)

Concentrating,
she sent the bear thoughts, pleasant images of salmon runs and fields of
berries. Anything to distract it and send it in search of easier prey than
humans.

Disjointed,
broken pictures and scents came back to her, musky rage, bitter fear, blood, a
larger, angry bear…this youngster had been attacked, was still confused and
looking for a way to take out its fury.

It
swung its head and ambled forward.

“Can’t
you talk to the fucking thing?”

She met
the bear’s gaze. Angst rolled off it in pungent waves. “No.”

“Then
what good is your damn gift?”

The
bear growled, curled its lips back from sharp teeth. “Hush. Fire your gun, but
don’t shoot him. Scare him.”

“Shit.”
He aimed at a rotten stump and fired. Dead wood exploded, showering the bear,
which roared, but turned and lumbered off.

Kira
breathed a sigh of relief, and Ender swung around to her. “Why couldn’t you
talk it down?”

She
rolled her eyes. “Just because I can communicate with animals doesn’t mean
they’ll listen.” At his blank stare, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Look
at it this way: You might be able to communicate with an angry mugger bent on
taking your wallet, but will he listen?”

“He’ll
listen to the sound of his throat being ripped out.”

She
huffed, and he chuckled as he returned his weapon to his bag. “Yeah, fine. I
see your point. Are all animals like that?”

She
shrugged. “Some species are worse than others. Wolves are great communicators.
And big cats. Lions are really open to cooperating. Tigers are a little more
testy.”

“What
are the worst?”

“Badgers.
They are the most stubborn, hardheaded, obnoxious…” She cocked her head and
studied him as he scanned the area as if he expected the bear to explode out of
the brush again at any moment. “Kinda like you.”

“You
don’t know me.”

“Was
my assessment wrong?”

“Well,
no.”

She
shot him a smug look. “And I didn’t even need to use my cool animal superpower
to know those things about you.”

A
breeze rippled his sandy hair as he shook his head in what she suspected was
exasperation. “Lady, I’ve met a lot of special-ability types in my career, but
you have to be the first that’s so well adjusted.”

“That’s
gotta be the first time anyone ever used
well adjusted
to describe me.”

“Yeah,
well, the people I deal with are used to hiding their abilities. They deny
them, or don’t have control of them, or they have this bitter I’m-a-freak thing
going on.” He looked at her as if she were an animal species he hadn’t seen
before. “Not you. I’ve never seen anyone so comfortable in their own skin.”

“Oh,
don’t be thinking my gift isn’t a royal pain in the ass sometimes,” she said,
remembering just the other night when four of her dogs had jumped on the bed to
wake her, complaining about one another like a bunch of five-year-old boys.

“Life
is a royal pain in the ass.” He motioned for her to sit, another fifteen-minute
break for him to collect his bearings and her to rest her aching feet.

As
she stretched her arms over her head, her muscles failed to relax, instead tightening.
Everything tightened, her breasts, her abs, everything but her sex, which
throbbed with a soft fullness.

Tom
sat on the ground a few feet away, his back to her, his attention focused on
the dense woods around them. His black T-shirt cut across defined muscles she’d
never tire of admiring. One sleeve was bunched up around his biceps, and all
she could think about was running her tongue over the hard swell.

Yeah,
she’d do that.

She
crouched, let her breathing grow shallow but slow. She went to her hands and
knees, moved silently toward him, stalking. Her inner thighs rubbed together as
she moved, heightening her already intense need. Pausing, she sniffed the air.
Trees and soil and man…her heartbeat bumped up a notch.

She
couldn’t stop the faint purring noise that rumbled up from deep inside her
chest as she approached, and Tom shifted so slightly no one else would have
noticed, but she knew she’d been detected.

Her
pulse pounded as she brushed her mouth across the back of his neck and then
nibbled her way up to his ear.

“You
don’t have to seduce me, you know. I’m a sure thing.”

She
sucked on his earlobe, and he moaned, tilted his head to grant her better
access. “You could try playing hard to get every once in a while.” She nipped
him, taking no special care to be gentle.

“I am
hard to get,” he growled.

Smiling,
her teeth still attached to his lobe, she wrapped her arms around his waist to
pet his erection through his pants. “Oh, you’re hard, all right.”

He
reached over his shoulders, grabbed her around her rib cage, then, in one
smooth motion, he brought her forward while he lay back, and she found her face
in his crotch. She felt his face in hers. In seconds, he had yanked down the
BDU bottoms he’d finally made her wear, freeing one leg and leaving the pants
bunched around the ankle of the other.

“Do
you think you can hold off the main event for just a minute?” he murmured
against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, and she nodded, though he
couldn’t have seen.

His
tongue slipped into the leg opening of her underwear, teasing and probing as
one finger tunneled into the other opening. The tip of his finger stroked the
crease of her leg, and she wriggled to create more room for him to play. His
smile tickled her skin and sent an involuntary shiver running through her body.

The
warm, musky scent of arousal filled her nostrils. Eagerly, she tore open his
BDUs and released his cock. It jutted upward, jumped as she pressed a lingering
kiss to the shaft. No man she’d been with had ever been so well endowed, so
ideally shaped for her feminine passage and hot buttons. Always before, orgasms
were hit or miss during intercourse. But with Tom, she came every time, several
times, often from nothing more than penetration. It was as though his body was
made for her, and it was time to reward him for that.

Raking
her fingernails over the skin of his inner thighs, she flicked her tongue
downward. She lapped at his balls, listening to the sound of his breathing as
it came faster. His cock strained against her cheek, a rod of heated marble,
and under her tongue, his balls swelled, the skin covering them growing taut,
lifting them to her mouth.

“Jesus,
Kira…oh,
yeah.
” His groan rumbled through her sex, releasing a gush of
moisture his tongue dipped into. She squirmed, tilting her hips to allow him
better access.

She
fisted his erection, feeling his pulse beating in her palm as she brought the
head to her lips. Creamy drops of pre-ejaculate beaded at the tip, precious
little pearls she shouldn’t waste. But it had been so long since she’d even
wanted to know any man so intimately, and her mouth watered with the desire to
taste him.

A
sound of desperation erupted from him as she traced his velvety cap with her
mouth, applying his essence there like lip balm. She sipped at the tiny slit
until he began to pant, and then she twisted around to smile at him. Slowly,
seductively, she ran her tongue over her lips, licking his fluid from them. His
flavor, wild and tangy, gave her mouth a buzz, and when she saw how he was
watching her, so captivated that he’d forgotten what he was doing between her
legs, her entire body buzzed with yearning so intense she quivered.

“You’re
killing me,” he rasped, and then he paid her back for her little game by
locking his penetrating gaze on her as he stretched the crotch of her panties
aside and pierced her core with his tongue.

He
didn’t take his eyes off her as he worked her, and as she began to peak, she
dropped her head between his legs, drew his sac into her mouth and let herself
scream around it.

“Oh,
God!” he shouted, the echo bouncing off the mountains as her release thundered
through her, her muffled noises vibrating through both of them.

Even
before the last spasms melted away, he grasped her panties and gave them a
frantic tug. “Playtime’s over.”

A
sound—a distant yip—brought her head up with a soft growl. Tom froze.

“What
is it?” he asked quietly, as several more yips joined the first, some very
near.

“Coyotes.
They’re warning us.”

He
swore. She scrambled off him, her body shrieking in frustration because her
orgasm had only intensified her need. Tom came to his feet like lightning, a
gun in one hand, his other tucking his cock back inside his BDUs. He winced as
he buttoned up, and she knew she wasn’t the only one feeling the pain of sexual
withdrawal.

“Tom—”

“Stay
here,” he said sharply, and started to move off, his gait a little stiff.

“Tom,
wait. You have to hurry.”

He
nodded, and she hoped the urgency in her voice told him just how much he’d have
to hurry. She needed sex. Soon.

ENDER
HAD BEEN THE LAST ONE to know there was trouble. He’d been too lost in the way
her mouth had been doing things no woman had ever done to him, the way she
tasted when she came, the way his balls had been on the verge of exploding far
too soon. And yeah, it was going to be damned good…

The
low growl that had come from her throat hadn’t sounded like the end of her
orgasm, but he’d been so busy thinking about getting into her, his body
conforming to her needs and actually aching for her after four hours, he hadn’t
realized her response was in answer to another, more sinister sound.

He’d
sent Kira away with that coyote she claimed knew of a safe spot for her to
hide, but there had been a brief moment of hesitation in her stance. He figured
it had more to do with needing sex than actually being worried about him, and
felt his anger mount at even worrying about her feelings.

Shit,
he needed to get himself together. Maybe killing these Itor agents would help.

He’d
waited until Kira had gotten out of sight, as swiftly and silently as any
operative he’d ever worked with, and then he moved, just as quietly but far
faster, to meet the men Itor had sent after her.

Two
men. Itor always sent them two-by-two, while ACRO preferred teams of one in the
field with constant backup in the form of psychics. Ender refused to turn his
mind over to them, and this time, he hadn’t even let Dev in on his plans.

Being
a freak in the real world was a funny thing, and both agencies knew that if you
wanted to stay in the game—and thrive—then you didn’t send in huge teams of
operatives and create a spectacle. Neither agency could be sure who was
watching them, waiting to snap a picture or capture an operative and turn them
and whatever superability they might have over to the public for scrutiny, and
in turn expose them all.

No,
under the radar meant more dangerous missions for all operatives, and this was
turning out to be worse than usual.

He
waited, stock-still, half-hidden in the foliage like a good sniper, and
assessed the danger headed his way.

Two
men—one excedo with as yet unknown powers, and one unknown entity. Possibly a
mind-fucker.

A
nudge to his thigh made him turn his head slowly, until he was staring down at
a black bear crouched on all fours as if at the ready. Ender knew that if the bear
stood on its hind legs, man and beast would be eye to eye.

You
here to help, buddy, or am I going to have to fight you too?

The
bear cocked his head, and Ender swore it gave him that same exasperated look
Kira continued to give him. He turned back to the men, watched as the excedo
ripped a large, thick branch off a nearby tree like it was a mere twig, and
knew he was dealing with another Derek. Or worse.

Itor
had been experimenting with their excedos, especially the ones with
superstrength, giving them massive doses of steroids to enhance their natural
abilities. The combination resulted in men who doubled their strength—and
doubled their rage until it became uncontrollable. Animals. The drugs ate away
at their minds until some of the operatives had to be put down. This man who
stood ten feet from him was one of them. Ender could see it in his eyes.

The
other guy still gave no indication as to what he was. Times like this, having a
little bit of psychic in him would come in handy.

He
pulled his gun into position slowly so as not to upset his new furry friend,
locked the scope and prepared to take out the second guy first. The devil you
didn’t know was always the more dangerous. He pulled the trigger with the
confidence of someone who’d done this enough to know he was spot on target.

He’d
also done this enough to know that something had gone terribly wrong. The
bullet, which sped toward its mark, slowed as it got within ten feet of the
man.

He’s
got a force field.
Not a very
well-known skill, but it told him that the man was telekinetic. And Ender knew
he was pretty well screwed.