The Last Marine (15 page)

“I know.” Her lips twitched. “I cheated, too.”

He sucked in a hard breath. He’d known she’d cheated, but her confession, so easily given, shocked the hell out of him. He thrust into her, making her gasp. “Come for me, Angel.” She tightened around his shaft. She was close and he wanted her to come before he did. His thumb grazed over her clit and he pinched the little bud lightly.

She fell back on the blanket, her body arching.

Griffin grinned. Prudence Angelica Parnell had a dirty streak in her. Maybe she didn’t realize it yet, but she liked him a little rough, a bit coarse. He found that quality sexy as hell. He gave into his need to increase their pace, pinching and plucking at her clit. Her head tossed from side to side, her moans and gasps coming more urgent now. “Come for me, Pru.”

Her whole body tensed, her thighs squeezing around him as her inner walls broke into pulsing release around his cock. He lowered himself over her, thrusting hard, sealing her lips with his, and chasing her orgasm with his own.

Starbursts of euphoria erupted inside him and he shouted, sinking deep within her tight sheath.

His heart pounded in his chest. Something happened there, something strange and new and terrifying. Something well beyond a physical release. He tried to roll away, sure his weight must be crushing her and desperate to escape, but she held on, ending up sprawled over him. All those sweet, tight curves snuggled up close.

“Christ, Angel.”

Had he really imagined he could fuck her without losing a part of himself? Prudence had touched him in odd ways since the day she stood facing him on that stage. She intrigued him. Infuriated him.

She made him want her.

And now he wanted more.

Griffin Jude Payne wrapped his arms around her. How the hell was it possible to be so close to her and still have her so far out of reach? He stared up at the stars peeking through the trees, cursing himself. She had been correct—not all starry skies were the same.

Not all men were the same.

Some deserved a woman like Prudence.

And some were assassins who’d ruined the world.

Chapter 17

Spent and sated, Randolph dropped to his belly, Bronsen’s weight pressing him to the mattress. The only sound in the room was his thundering heart, their labored breathing. The scent of their lovemaking laced the air. Bronsen nipped his shoulder and shifted his weight to lie next to him.

Randolph didn’t move. He was content. His tics had stopped for the moment. His thoughts were calm, focused. All this would be over soon. Even now, ships were out, scanning the surface of Asteria for signs of Prudence. The Blue Helmets would find her.

Bronsen stroked his hand down Randolph’s spine. “I’m worried about you. You’ve been so stressed lately.”

“I’m fine. Or I will be, once we have Prudence.”

“You know, Randy, you could turn things over to me for a while.” Bronsen’s warm breath brushed his ear, making him shiver. “Not anything permanent, just long enough to set things to right again.” His hand stroked over Randolph’s ass. “We could head home, you and me. You could make a public announcement. I’ll take care of the Rebels, get everyone on our side again. You know I’d do anything for you.”

It wasn’t the first time Bronsen had made the suggestion. In some ways, it was tempting . . . Bronsen was good at making things right. But he needed to do this. He had to finish what his brother had started. After all, Alfred had done everything for him. “No. I can do this. We need to find Prudence. Once we have her, the people will listen to me again.”

Alfred would’ve wanted it that way.

*****

Sometime during the night, Griffin shook Prudence awake. She stared up at him through groggy eyes and a fogged mind. “Morning already?” She wasn’t sure why she asked the question, the skies were still lit by moonlight, the air was cool.

“There’s a ship coming.”

A ship? They were rescued? They could fly to the spaceport in comfort and . . . . She glanced back toward the low rumble of the craft. A thin line of red light almost a meter long scanned over the ground below. They were searching for signs of life. They might even be searching for her. “Oh, no.”

“Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her up. “We can hide in the water; I already stowed our stuff.”

Prudence glanced back and sure enough all their belongings were out of sight. The ship floated closer, the surrounding trees bending low from the wind caused by the ship, the red scanning lights lit the ground where they’d been sleeping.

Water enveloped her foot; she paused. What was he doing?

“I need you to trust me, Angel.” He cupped her face, whispering in her ear. “The water will keep us hidden from the scanners.”

Oh, goddess. He must be whispering because he feared they were scanning for sound, too. “How?”

His lips thinned into a half-hearted smile. “High school science—water refracts light.” He drew her deeper into the pool. “We’ll have to stay below the surface until they pass.”

She backed away, shaking her head. “No.”

“Yes. I don’t know why they’re here. Somehow, I doubt it’s for a failure like me. It’s your choice—Randolph and the ship, or me and the water.”

Prudence didn’t even think, she threw herself into his arms.

“Watch the light.” He lowered them both down to their chins. “When it gets close, hold your breath and stay under until the water gets dark again. Understand?”

“What if I can’t hold my breath that long?”

His mouth brushed her ear. “I’ll keep you safe, Angel.”

The red lines of light approached, edging right up to the pool before sliding back the other way.

“They’ll scan the pond on the next pass. Take a deep breath as soon as it hits the edge of the pond.”

Heart hammering away in her chest, she wrapped her arms tighter around Griffin. The trees bowed and the water rippled and splashed around them as the ship hovered overhead. The red beam swung back their way, crawling over the ground, the rocks, the trees and shrubs, right up the edge of the pond.

Prudence inhaled a deep breath and Griffin pulled them both down. As the red light passed over them, their eyes met.

She put him in danger by being near him. If they found her—found them together—Randolph would kill Griffin.

The beam passed overhead, but instead of moving on, it came back. Pressure built in her chest. Her lungs began to burn and her panic built. Had they been seen? Griffin believed the water would protect them, but how could he be sure? Anxiety crawled under her skin as the beam passed over, seeming to light the water around them for an eternity. Her lungs ached, burning with the need for air. She tightened her grip on Griffin.
Please, Goddess, give me strength. Don’t let me do anything stupid.

But she needed air.

Old fears unfurled inside her. Her body would inhale soon. Her oxygen-deprived body would start to shut down, she’d begin to lose consciousness and, as her mind became scattered, she’d reflexively pull in a long, deep breath of water. It would burn. Her lungs would seize as they tried to expel the liquid which would make her suck in even more water.

They were both going to die.

Griffin fisted his hand and placed the circle of his thumb and forefinger against her mouth.

She didn’t understand.

He nodded, putting his fist to his mouth and tipping his face up.

He wanted her to use his hand like a straw. Goddess bless him.

She tipped her head back and he lifted her until she could take a fresh breath of air through his fist. She inhaled a deep breath and pulled herself down, keeping herself submerged by holding on to the rocky edge of the pool, while Griffin took a fresh breath, too.

The red scanning light passed over again. This time, it moved on. Griffin found her arm in the dark water, gave her a squeeze and urged her up. They broke the surface at the same time, both taking deep, quiet breaths, unsure if the ship just scanned for life, or if they were scanning for sound, too.

His lips grazed her ear. “You got something you need to tell me?”

She didn’t know what to say. Griffin was the first man to ever want her for herself. She had no desire to complicate things by telling him about the gift she carried for her mate. She had no desire to explain why Randolph wanted her or how he meant to use her. She also didn’t want to lie.

“Remember I told you President McKinley wore a carnation for luck?”

His cheek brushed hers when he nodded.

“I’m his carnation.”

Griffin backed away, his brows drawing together. “What do you mean?”

“Randolph thinks I . . . bring him luck.”

“But why?”

“Because Alfred thought I brought him luck and Randolph has always wanted everything his brother had.”

He shook his head, looking off into the distance. “I think they’re gone.” His gaze returned to her. “For now. We need to beat feet, though. We’ll be better able to hide from the scanners in the forest where there are lots of plants and animals.” He started to climb out of the water, but Prudence grabbed his hand, afraid he was angry with her.

“Maybe they’re not looking for me.”

He sank back down next to her, taking her face in his hands. “If you’d gone missing on me, I’d want you back.” He kissed her, slow and sweet. “Except I wouldn’t have sent someone for you. I’d have come myself.”

Goddess bless him, that was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. “I don’t want you to get hurt.” She couldn’t stand it if anything happened to Griffin. In a very short time, he’d come to mean so much to her.

“I’m not gonna.” He bussed her lips again and started out of the water. “Come on. We need to get moving before the next one comes along.”

“You think there will be more?” She searched the sky.

“In the Marines, when we searched for someone important enough to use scanners for, we always did so in waves of three, about an hour apart.”

Prudence followed him back to their campsite and shouldered her pack. They hiked all through the night and sure enough, about an hour apart, scanning ships flew overhead, forcing them to hide in the ponds dotting the landscape. It wasn’t until dawn, when they’d reached the base of the mountains that Griffin seemed to relax.

“Let’s take a break and eat.”

“Shouldn’t we keep going, at least find the next pond?”

“Nah.” He set his pack down and sat on a stump. “Those scanners don’t work worth a shit in the daylight, especially if it’s hot.” He lifted the edge of his shirt and wiped the sweat from his face. “We’ll be all right until tonight.”

Prudence put her bag down and stretched her back, wishing she could do the same with her legs without being too obvious. After so many days of walking, or maybe because of their lovemaking last night, she felt stiff and sore in places she’d forgotten she had. She sat down in the soft blue grass and started looking through her pack for the root vegies she had left over.

“What about this?” Griffin held out two fist-sized brown objects.

“Where’d you get them?”

He pointed up. Above them, the branches of the trees were loaded with the stuff. “You think it’s edible?”

She wet her lips.
Goddess, she’d give just about anything for something sweet.
“Let me check.” She dug to the bottom of her pack, opened the plastic container holding her treasure, and pulled out the field guide she’d guarded so zealously.

Griffin’s eyes widened. “Is that—?” He reached forward, then snatched his hand back. “Is that a . . . book?”

Prudence smiled. “A real book, printed on paper and everything.” Had she been worried he’d take it from her? He appeared terrified by it. “Mm.” She ran her hand over the cover. “I had it printed for this trip.” With the rise of electronic media, using products that contributed to diminished natural resources had gone out of fashion. Products like books had become more expensive until the average citizen couldn’t afford them. Eventually, people forgot about books, satisfied with electronic print.

“I’ve never seen one.”

“Printing is a dying art.” She opened it, paging though to the section on plants. “I’m friends with the Sisters of Charity. The nuns have strong feelings about certain things, one being the need for the printed word. They have this theory that someday all our knowledge might be lost if our networks go down. They don’t like the idea of all the print books in the world being in the Global Gallery, inaccessible to the masses. I guess their paranoia turned out to be a good thing for me. I never owned a Saph-link—not that one would be much good on Asteria.”

“Can I see?”

She held the book out to him and he shook his head as he scooted off the stump to sit behind her. “You hold it. I just want to look.”

Prudence leaned back against the strong wall of his chest and paged through until she found pictures of tree fruit. On the fourth page in she found an image of a fruit similar to what Griffin had. She held the fruit next to the page. “Berriegranate. It’s edible.” She glanced at him over her shoulder, but he appeared to have forgotten about the fruit, all his attention on the pages of the book.

“You know my favorite part?”

He dragged his attention from the book. “What?”

Keeping her eyes on him, she lifted her treasure to their faces. “Smell.”

They both inhaled a deep breath of the intriguing scent of printed paper, woodsy, and a little bitter. They shared a smile. “The Sisters are a bit rebellious. They still have an old press down in their basement and make copies of books they think are worth preserving. Sister Agnes took me down into their vault once. They had books from long ago and they all smelled different. She said it depended on what type of tree pulp the pages were pressed from, the type of glue and ink, and where it’d been. She said they picked up scents like clothing does.”

“Hm.” He nuzzled the side of her neck. “Odd how the damn thing brings on a sense of nostalgia when I’ve never even seen one before.”

“The sisters taught me how to make them.”

The low rumble of his laugher rolled through him. “A pioneer, huh?”

Yes, she had told him that she wanted to be a pioneer, but even pioneers needed books. She grinned. “Why not? Why can’t we have books on Asteria? Why can’t we do away with the bans on non-Christian religions, eradicate the social classes, and start over?”

Griffin’s expression grew serious. “There’s some things that don’t change, Angel.”

“Why not? The only reason something can’t change is if people don’t want it to. That’s why I didn’t want to stay on Earth. People seemed to like the way things were. I didn’t. I want to have an altar in my home dedicated to Dydona. I want to print and read books. I want—” She almost told him she wanted to be with him. Almost. But her feelings for him were too new and undefined. She knew she wanted him. She knew she liked to be with him. She cared for him. But was all that enough?

“I guess we’ll find out what’s what when we find civilization. We’ll see what the people of Asteria want.”

“And if we don’t like it, we can always start a new town.”

He searched her face for a moment, something stark and pain-filled in his expression. “We better eat, Angel. We can’t hang about all day.” He picked up one of the brown fruits and moved back to his place on the stump.