Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (64 page)

Hunter’s breath left him in a soft oof. She gave him a sweet smile, her eyes dancing with promise.

“Woman, you do not negotiate fairly,” he growled softly at her.

“Nope,” she grinned. “I don’t. It’s one of the perks of being a woman. Now, please? We’re desperate for some relief from this heat. And maybe, if we get that, you guys won’t have nearly as much trouble talking us into some more energetic antics later tonight. You know, since we will have been able to cool off and won’t be as averse to being touched?”

“Is that why-“ he began, looking chagrined.

“Yes, you goober!” she exploded, exasperated. “I’m so damn hot that I don’t want
me
touching me, much less you guys. You just get me even hotter and we all end up sweaty. And while that’s fun as long as it lasts, afterwards I feel even stickier, sweatier, and nastier. So please?
Please
let us go swimming. Hell, build us a swimming pool here, if you can’t take time off to take us to the waterfall. But something’s gotta give, sweetie.

“And I’ll give you a hint: it
won’t
be us.”

Hunter stared, nonplussed, as the entire group of women turned and hurried toward the shade of the trees in the courtyard. He and his men were mesmerized by their lush hips and backsides swinging in that magical way only a woman had, enjoying the view of so many young women wearing so little clothing.

“It really would be nice to give them a treat, wouldn’t it?” Trey asked at his side. Hunter glared at him, but when he opened his mind to Read his warriors, the rest of the men were in agreement. He rolled his eyes toward the sky.

“All right,” he sighed, admitting that he was trying to fight a battle that none of them wanted to win. The men whooped and Arianna looked up from her perch under the tree. She saw his sheepish grin and cried out gladly. The rest of the girls echoed her joy and within minutes, the men had organized a safety detail to accompany the women. Some groups raided the communal kitchen to grab cold meats, breads, and anything else that might suit for an unplanned picnic. The women hurried to their quarters to retrieve towels, blankets, and cover-ups for their teams.

Jace, alerted by the excitement in the courtyard, popped his head out through the med center’s window. Hunter shrugged up at him and beckoned him to come down. Jace hurried to his brother’s side.

“I will leave you in charge, little brother,” Hunter said, his eyes following their mate’s luscious form in her skimpy outfit. Jace’s eyes were locked on her, as well, though, and he shook his head.

“I cannot leave her safety only to you,” Jace said gravely, crossing his arms implacably over his chest and glaring at Hunter. “There are dangerous creatures out there. What if one surprises you, and she has no one left to defend her? We are but a team of two… she should have both of us with her. And, with all these people… there could be injuries that you will need your chief medical officer for. If we were to be perfectly logical about this, it is probably best that
I
go, if one of us must stay behind.”

Hunter glowered at his brother, but had to admit that there really was no reason that everyone couldn’t go to the falls, if they wanted to. As long as they closed the gates, there was no danger of anything getting into the compound and destroying their buildings. It wasn’t something he would normally even consider, but just this once…

Within a surprisingly short amount of time, nearly the entire population of the compound was in the courtyard, ready to go on the excursion. The girls were happily mounted in front of one or two of their men on the riding beasts, with warriors on foot prepared to either hunt or defend, as the need arose.

Hunter, with Arianna between him and Jace on his mount, signaled to the group, and they all moved forward, into the trees.

“Oh, Hunter!” Arianna breathed, when they came within sight of the falls and the lake it fed into. Hunter, humbled by the longing and the awe in her voice, brought the mount to a stop so that she could take in the beautiful little valley that held the lake. “It’s… oh wow.”

“And it is a bit cooler, already,” Jace remarked, looking at his scanner. “Hunter, should we consider some temporary shelters here for the summer months? It does seem-”

“Shhh!” Arianna hissed, waving her hands to shush them. “I want to take it in for a minute.”

The men grinned at each other over her head, but gave her a moment to enjoy the view. Hunter turned forward again, clicked to his rider and they moved down into the valley. Arianna stared around, trying to take in everything at once. Within minutes they were standing by the lake, with the cool spray from the waterfall kissing their nearly bare skin, cooling the entire group nicely. Arianna tilted her head back, a huge grin on her face, as the cool water took all the crankiness from her that the heat had been baking in.

“Okay,” she breathed after a few minutes, “I’m never leaving this place. You guys can find another mate, if you want someone to live in that blast furnace you call home!”

“It’s your home, too,” Hunter reminded her, grinning. She shook her head, her laughter bright and airy.

“Nope. I live here now. Forever and always. Or until it gets cold. Then I’ll come back. This is my summer home now. Get used to it.”

“Um, Ri,” Jace said, arching a brow at her. She glared at him hard enough that he actually backed up at step. He put his hands up, palm out, laughing and shaking his head. “Never mind… I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Damn right, you weren’t!” she said, nodding at him in approval.

“I don’t believe you should talk to your mates with such disrespect,” Hunter murmured, an evil glint entering his eyes. Ri didn’t see it, but Jace did. He grinned broadly, nodding to his brother. Ri giggled.

“Oh, really?” she asked, looking up at Hunter, grinning. “What are you going to do about it, big guy?”

Hunter growled and swept her into his arms. Before she could do more than blink at him in surprise, he grinned evilly and heaved her, squealing, far out into the lake, where she sank with a big
sploosh
, into the water.

The men whooped and laughed, and the girls squeaked and giggled when Arianna popped up, spluttering and calling Hunter all kinds of foul names. He just smiled smugly at her as she swam back toward the shore. Then his mouth went dry as she stopped, relaxed, and lay back in the water. When her curvy little body bobbed on the surface, her swimsuit nearly transparent, both her mates stood there, staring.

“Oh, god, this feels wonderful!” she called out, laughing. “You’re forgiven, my love!”

Behind them, Hunter heard movement, and before he could remind any of the men to keep watch, the girls were either being thrown into the lake, carried in under squealing protest, or running in under their own power, their men giving chase.

“We have lost all control,” Jace said, shaking his head. Hunter chuckled.

“Aye, but the women are something to behold in their swimming outfits, are they not?” Hunter asked, his eyes locked hungrily to Arianna’s breasts. Their dark tips were easily visible through her suit, her nipples hard from the cold water.

“Give her some time to cool down and relax first, brother,” Jace laughed. Hunter swung his gaze to his brother, an eyebrow arched.

“Do you not wish to go out there, strip her bare, and make love to her right now?” Hunter asked. Jace nodded enthusiastically.

“Of course I do,” Jace said, “But I have been concerned about the women’s growing issues with the heat. We do not have cooling units we can use to lower the temperature in the quarters, and being built against the cliffs is helpful, but not as cool as it apparently should be, for them. They need this right now. We should probably consider moving the dorm here, so that they have a shelter in case of sudden storms, and for those that wish to take naps out of the sun. And I was serious about spending some time here during the worst of the heat, for their sake. There are enough un-mated men back at the compound to ‘hold down the fort’, as our little one likes to say.”

Hunter nodded thoughtfully, then watched as Bev swam over to Arianna and floated alongside her friend. The two older women held hands and chatted, floating together on their backs and occasionally pointing upward, as though finding figures in the clouds. Trey, Rom, and Erik moved to join their commander and first lieutenant.

“This was a good idea,” Trey said quietly. “The women are already in much better moods, and the men are happier for seeing them thus.”

“The bathing suits do not hurt, either,” Erik said wryly, standing beside his team leader, his eyes hot and hungry on his mate. “What a picture our two ladies make out there, curvy and wet and smiling.”

“Ahhh… curvy, wet, and smiling,” Hunter said with a grin. “Would that they were always that way, eh?”

The men laughed then Hunter narrowed his gaze on Ri and began toeing out of his boots. In seconds he was unabashedly naked and striding purposefully into the water. Trey quickly followed suit. The girls in his path squealed at his nudity and dove out of his way, drawing Arianna’s attention. She and Bev looked up, saw Hunter and Trey, bare-ass naked, coming toward them with unsmiling determination, and grinned hugely. Before the men got close, they giggled at each other and lunged backwards, swimming strongly away.

They should have known better than to taunt warriors! Hunter and Trey grinned at each other and, as one, dove into the deeper waters and began swimming strongly after their mates. Bev looked back at one point, to see what the men were up to and got a mouthful of water when she squeaked out a warning to Arianna. The chase was on in earnest, then.

The girls lengthened their strokes, kicked as best they could, but the men were bigger, stronger, and far more determined to catch, than the girls were to not get caught. When Hunter’s long arms came around her, Arianna barely caught a breath before being dragged beneath the surface of the lake. She was wrapped in his strong embrace, felt the powerful undulation of his body as he kicked them toward the surface. They shot into the air, both drawing in deep breaths, as Hunter held her trapped against him and kept them afloat as he used his free arm to stroke toward the falls.

The roar of the waterfall was too great here for them to speak, but the look in his eyes told Arianna that he didn’t have conversation in mind, anyhow. She smiled prettily up at him, then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself up enough to capture his mouth in a sweetly welcoming kiss. He caught his breath, crushing her against his chest as he deepened the kiss, opening her mouth with his and searching it with his tongue. She wrestled his tongue with hers, sucking on it with gentle tugs that reminded him of what it felt like to have her small, hot mouth on his shaft. He groaned into her mouth and pulled away, staring at her. His expression was wicked when he sucked in a huge breath. That was all the warning she got. Quickly drawing in her own breath, she held onto him as he plunged them under the water and swam with her deep beneath the turbulence of the falls.

When her lungs felt as though they would explode, she felt his body undulate once more, felt them sliding toward the surface again. She was gasping for air as they broke through into a dim, cool cave behind the waterfall. Hunter swam with her over to a stony ledge, then set her bottom firmly on one of the smooth stones at the edge and held himself up long enough to kiss her breathless.

Just a moment later, Bev’s head broke through, as did Trey’s. Arianna glanced at them and laughed, blushing.

“Oh, this is wonderful!” Bev breathed, trying to catch her breath from the wild under-water ride. Trey levered himself out of the pool to sit beside his mate on the rock. “Trey, it’s so blessedly cool in here!”

“I never want to leave!” Arianna agreed, her arms around Hunter’s shoulders as he held onto her thighs and floated between her knees. “This is marvelous! It would be nice to hang out here all day, though I might get bored eventually. Somehow, I don’t think bringing my knitting here would be a good plan.”

Hunter chuckled, kissing droplets of water from her pert little nose. She smiled back, leaning forward to nibble a small rivulet of water from his neck.

“I can think of a few ways to entertain you,” he growled and levered himself out of the water, leaning forward until she was forced to hang onto him in order to keep from falling backwards on the rocks. He held himself up with his arms locked, his hands next to her hips on the rock. She laughed as he tried to chase down a stream of water that was ambling down her collarbone toward her breasts.

A delighted little titter warned them that Trey and Bev were entertaining themselves in a similar fashion. Knowing that the other couple wasn’t paying them any attention, Hunter grinned hotly at Ri and nuzzled his face between her breasts. She laughed breathlessly as he licked the water from between them, then sucked in a blissful breath when his mouth explored over the wet material to lock onto her nipple. He suckled her through the soft fabric, groaning as her desire leapt and spread into him. She held his head closer, leaning down enough to take his earlobe between her lips and whisper erotic little commands to him. He eagerly followed each one, but soon found himself wanting to plunge into her. Instead, he pulled her forward, until her bottom was on the edge of the rock and he could nestle himself between her thighs.

Growling, he pulled back, but he was loath to give up the hot, wet little valley between her legs, where his shaft had naturally lodged. She grinned devilishly at him, her eyes dancing with the knowledge that he wouldn’t actually make love to her here, with Trey and Bev literally within arm’s reach. He arched a brow at her, though, and went back to nibbling on her neck, her ears, her chin… anything he could reach was fair game. He kissed her until her head spun and her entire body throbbed with the wanting.