Under His Guard (11 page)

It led directly into an enclosed courtyard, empty except for two men. Colt had a gun aimed at Leon.

“G'on. Do it so I don't have to when the time comes.” Leon's stubborn chin thrust up.

I barreled forward and brought the side of my hand down on Colt's arm so fast and so hard that I broke his wrist with a snap. His gun clattered to the ground. His scream died quickly in his mouth as Raine came out of the shadows and unloaded a bullet into Colt's head.

“I got him,” I reported over the D-P, scooping Leon into my arms. “We're gonna exit on the east side of the palace. Make tracks. Meet us there.”

Raine tucked his weapon into the back of his pants. Standing over Colt's prone body, he lit a cigarette. A thin blue cloud of smoke trailed from the red glowing tip. “I guess he figured it out.”

“Figured out what exactly?” I asked.

“Leon's infected.”

I stared at the man. He'd already discovered the one thing I didn't want anyone else to know. I didn't think he was half as laid-back as he wanted us to believe, and perhaps that made him a more powerful ally. At any rate, I owed him.

Stepping forward, I put out my hand. “You helped save Leon's life. I am in your debt.”

He shook my hand.

Leon wriggled, trying to set his feet on the ground, but I kept him cranked against me.

“You can let me go.”

“Not likely.” I dipped my mouth to his ear. “And you oughtta know, we're gonna have words later about you and your death wish.”

“You're an arrogant sonuvabi—”

I cut him off with my lips, molding them to his. Leon was safe, but the tension wasn't dispelled. If anything, I needed to get him alone even more.

“Get us out of here,” I said to Raine.

We moved swiftly down the courtyard, keeping behind a line of crumbling colonnades. Minutes later, we finally exited the palace through a thick metal door to a deserted alley outside.

Shortly after our exit, Linc, Liz, and Darwin busted through the door, keeping low and scanning for any threats.

“We're clear.” My forearm flexed around Leon's middle when he tried to move away from me.

Nathaniel and Cannon cleared the exit next.

I nodded to them. “Leon's cover's been blown. We need to get out of here. We don't know who else knows.”

Raine led our escape as we slipped away from the palace and its bright lights and noise. “We need fast transport.” Raine stubbed out his smoke and quickly lit another.

Cannon scratched his beard. “Fuck the donkeys—”

“Camels,” Linc corrected.

“We need a vehicle.” Liz drummed her fingertips against the butts of her guns.

A loud engine roared up behind us. Our raised weapons were met with flashing headlights. Then Darwin's face appeared from an open driver's side window. She pounded her fist on the roof of the hot-wired, desert-ready Cruiser.

I hadn't even realized she'd done a disappearing act.

“She's slick.” Liz grinned.

“Get in,” Darwin called.

R
aine rattled off coordinates to Darwin, who lead-footed it through Omega under his direction. She took hairpin turns with the same precision she handled the Predator, cool under pressure.

“We can't go back to Karesh.” I stuck my face between the two of them in the front seat. “It's not any safer for Leon there than it was at the Amphitheater if someone's already been picking off the infected.”

“I've got a place in mind.” Raine peered out his window, his weapon cocked and ready.

I sat back, rearranging Leon on my lap. Scoping out the back window, I noted a Cruiser tailing us, gaining on us. The crack of a rifle sounded before stone dust blew across the windshield, a bullet having narrowly missed our car.

Darwin cursed and swerved to the left, trying to shake the unwanted armed escort. Linc and I rolled down our windows and swiveled behind to take aim from either side of the vehicle. His Heck made sweet music with one of my Smith & Wesson 500s. With the accuracy of soldiers trained to dole out death, we took out the tires first. The best part was the fireworks when the engine block went up in flames and the vehicle crashed into the wall.

Darwin sped away from the explosion, and we calmly holstered our weapons.

Between me and Linc, seated on Cannon's thighs, Nathaniel wryly commented, “I'm beginnin' to get the feelin' people don't much like us around here.”

Leon made the first noise he had since we got in the car, a small chuckle.

“Maybe it's a sign you should keep all your southern charm for me,” Cannon said, tightening his arms around his husband.

“I don't think that's ever been a problem, big man.”

Liz coughed, “Ass kisser.”

Nathaniel grinned, dimples digging into his cheeks. “Yep. In every single sense of the phrase, Lizbeth.”

I smoothed Leon's hair back, hiding my smile at Liz's crimson face with a kiss to his temple. The eight of us squished inside the stolen vehicle made for cozy quarters. I didn't mind Leon sitting on my lap where he couldn't get away, but I for one wasn't ready to snuggle up to Cannon's backside.

We didn't encounter any more threats in the form of Corps troopers or assassins or whoever else had it in for us. Leon's shaking body slowly stilled, his breaths evening out before sleep overtook him. In a couple hours, we passed through Omega and out the other side, across yet more barren desert, where nothing and no one resided. Darwin gunned it over high dunes that shined silver in the moonlight. On the other side of the sandy hills was a fantastical sight. The wide tires of the vehicle slipped and spun, but Darwin eased it down to an endless beach. She rolled to a stop just out of the crashing tide's reach.

In his sleep, Leon's arms had slid around me, his head resting under my chin. I woke him gently. “We're here.”

His nose twitched and he rubbed a hand across his mouth before his eyelids fluttered open. His gaze was so sweet and dazed; I tried to forget the worry that hounded us, that time was running out.

“Where, here?” he asked.

“Haven't got a goddamn clue. Take a look.” I nodded out the window.

His slumberous eyes widened as he took in the scene. We were all stunned to silence as we piled out of the vehicle, assaulted by the warm, salty air. I pulled Leon along with me, sniggering when he stumbled in the untouched white sand, his mouth agape. Not too far out in the surf, an island castle rose from a surrounding sandbar—stone blocks, turrets, and all. A slim causeway from shore to door was the only route to and fro.

“This is…” Nathaniel rubbed both hands across the shaved sides of his long hair.

“Wild,” Leon breathed.

“Fucking weird.” Cannon's brow furrowed as he canvassed the area for imminent tangos or more sand dunes.

Liz started walking toward the nature-made jetty. “I think it's romantic.”

Cannon did an about-face. “Did you hit your head or something?”

A smile tugged at my lips as I led Leon forward. An air of reluctance hung over him, but I wasn't gonna let him get away with hanging back. It was clear his earlier anxiety had been replaced by a sense of wonder at this otherworldly place.

Waves lapped the sides of the rocky pier as we filed across. The castle was even more imposing up close, reaching high like the Beta Territory skyscrapers—except instead of glass and steel, this structure was built of rough-hewn stone and was utterly out of place in the blistering landscape.

“It's not a mirage, I promise you,” Raine said, pushing open the massive timber doors. The rusty hinges let out a loud creak.

The ceilings were high, the rooms cavernous. A combination of dust and sand tickled my nose as we made a pass-through from the bottom level to the top three stories. During the recon, nothing could be heard but quiet calls of “clear” echoing through the vast vault-like castle. We reconvened in the main room on the bottom floor.

“How the hell did this place come to be?” I asked Raine as he sat cross-legged on one of the cushions tossed across the floor.

“An environmental anomaly caused by the Purge. It seems this castle drifted across the oceans to settle here. Amazing that it survived the trials of earth-wide destruction, just like our ancestors.” He rolled a cigarette and lit it, his auburn hair glowing in the light. “Good thing for us, too. We're always safe at sea.”

Leon lingered on the far side of the room, refusing to look at me.

“We should get some shut-eye,” I said.

Linc stood at attention, no doubt thinking what I was thinking. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Leon, possibly to throttle him. Linc probably wanted some alone time with his new wife, too.

“Just as long as we're as far away from the Fuck Bunnies as possible,” Linc said.

Liz's eyes danced. Cannon flushed to his hairline. Nathaniel took his brother in a tackle that landed them in a mass of limbs on the floor. He rolled off Linc, puffing his hair from his eyes.

“Someone has to stand guard while the others rest,” I said before anyone could retreat.

Nathaniel pointed at Cannon. “We got it covered.”

Cannon helped Nathaniel to his feet, grumbling about being volunteered as he none too gently brushed off his backside.

“C'mon, big man. We can have that second honeymoon later.”

Everyone else claimed rooms while Leon tried to skedaddle past me on the first landing. I hooked him around the waist. “Not so fast. You're with me.”

He started cursing up a storm.

“Swear all you want, and don't think I don't know what you're saying. You're not leaving my side.” I barely concealed my fury about his asinine antics from earlier.

I marched him upstairs. I'd done my surveillance well, scoping out a room that not only had a lock but also an adjoining bathroom and—one odd miracle after another—warm running water. I assumed it was collected rainwater, heated by the sun somewhere in this whimsy of a castle. Inside the bedroom, I turned the lock behind me. Leon wrapped his arms around his body, looking down at the floor as he shuffled his feet.

“What's wrong?”

Dropping his arms, he thrust his chin forward in challenge. “You're pissed at me.”

More than pissed, I was troubled. He'd asked to be killed, for fuck's sake. I forced myself to relax. The hot button I wanted to push tonight wasn't his temper. I stripped off my shirt and tossed it on the bed. Just because I wanted to goad a reaction other than fear or despair out of him, I lifted my arms for an allover stretch, my back to him. Every muscle in my body flexed. I listened to Leon's guttural response.

I closed the distance to him and brushed my hands down his arms to join my fingers with his. His gaze roved over my face—awed, worried, maybe wondering if I was gonna beat his ass for his brash
Go ahead and kill me
move. But I had better things to do with that incredible ass of his, and I couldn't wait to show him. Once I rid him of that hideous fucking hair dye.

Then I was going to teach him a lesson about when to beg and why: only for me, to make him come.

The bathroom was little more than a small flagstone rectangle holding a commode, a sink, and a shower stall. I tugged Leon in after me, our chests brushing in the enclosed space. I divested him of his clothes. I loosened my trousers and let them drop to the floor, standing in full erect glory before him. The darkness of my body against the tan of his never ceased to make my heart pound, longing and lust uncoiling within me.

That damn tat on his groin, beside the sweet staff of his stiff cock, taunted me. My fingertips trailed over it. His skin dimpled and he braced a hand on my shoulder. I turned on the water and walked into the cubicle, beneath the spray. When I looked back, Leon's gaze wandered over my body, stopping at my ass. I flexed the globes and groaned when he clasped me in a firm grip.

I dislodged his hands. “Come on. Let's get you cleaned up.”

We warriors always traveled with a light pack—ammo, socks, dried food. Tonight I made use of the sliver of soap I'd brought. Later I had plans for the lube. I stood Leon under the spray, washing his hair of the ugly black dye. I cleaned his entire body, stopping only to soap mine. When our chests met, they were slick with hot, sudsy water.

The more I revealed of him, the more I was overwhelmed by fear for his survival. My hands slowed, reaching down to his ass so I could pull him against me.

“I am mad at you.” I skimmed my hands up his back and cupped his face between my rough palms.

“It's bad enough to die, but 'cause of what I've done, because Cutler's out to get us, other people are gon' get infected.” His large eyes blinked up at me. “I don' want anyone else to die because of me.”

I returned my hands to his rear. I grasped him harder and he gasped loudly. “And what about me?”

He tried to back away. “You don't want me!”

Pushing him against the slick wall, I punched beside his head with both fists. “Does this look like I don't want you?” Our cocks strained together, mine butting against his. I wrapped my arms around him, whispering against his ear, “Does this feel like I don't need you? More than I've ever needed anyone?”

He shook his head, a moan on his lips that I swooped down and swallowed on my tongue.

“Don't you ever fucking ask for a bullet again.” I shuddered against Leon

I lifted my head, not caring if the water failed to hide my tears. Our kiss was a languid mesh of salty tongues, our touches so terribly tender it felt like my heart was beating in my hands, his for the taking.

“
Cher.
” His tongue traced the cords of my neck to my ear. He had no idea what that forgotten endearment meant to me. Another slip of tears welled in my eyes. “I don't know what I mean to you no more.”

“Then let me show you.”

There were no towels when we stepped out of the shower. I licked the droplets from his body with the flat of my tongue, holding him still when he quivered and groaned. In the bedroom, I shook out the blankets to get rid of the dust and quickly remade the bed. I laid Leon in the middle of it.

I lit a candle and placed a tube of lube and a condom from my ever-ready pack beside him, making sure he knew my intentions. He spread his legs to invite me on top of him. The sunny warmth of his body was the antidote to all the darkness in me, all the despair that had sucked me into a black hole for so long I'd forgotten about loving and touching and living.

With death and disaster so close, I needed to show Leon I was worth living for. That he was worth all my care, all my attention, and he could have what he wanted, if he still wanted me.

Leon looked like a tiger as I moved over him. His hands cruised into my short hair, scraping my skull. I lowered myself on top of him, crying out when his hard cock aligned with mine. We were both slick and ready, hard and wanting, but I wanted more. I wanted all of him. I wanted inside of him.

I kissed him for a long time, fucking my tongue into his mouth where he licked it like he had my cock the other night. Our wet lips audibly parted. “I'm gonna love you so good, Leon.”

He moaned, tossing his damp hair about.

This time I didn't go for his beautiful shaft. I was after his glorious ass. I flipped him over and laid him spread-eagle. Leon immediately lifted up, presenting himself.

I spread his cheeks wide and slapped the perfect rounds of flesh. “No one's ever gonna have this sweet ass again but me. Got it, baby?” I shoved aside the constant worry he might've been raped at Taft's hands. I'd stop everything if Leon showed the slightest discomfort about what I was doing.

“Yes!” Leon's voice was muffled in the mattress.

Goddamn if his ass wasn't the hottest thing I'd ever seen. My tongue skipped down the length of his spine while I dangled one finger over his little hole. I kissed the top of his cleft. I tongued the tight crease, roaming to nip and slap and massage his peach-like ass on every pass closer to his pucker. His cheeks were so muscular I needed both hands to spread them fully apart so I could get my face right in there where I wanted it.

His ring expanded when I breathed on it. His groan reverberated when I moved back up to tease the dimples above his ass. I took a side trip to his balls, sucking the pink orbs into my mouth and running figure eights around them. When he humped back against my face, I lashed my tongue from his perineum to the pretty pistil-like opening and speared deep inside.

“Ohhh!”
Bracing even wider on his knees, Leon wiggled his butt in front of me.

“Nice. So beautiful.” I spanked both sides with soft slaps, leaving a pink mark on his flesh.

Diving into his taut divide, I ate his ass, loudly slurping. I loved his taste, his wanton reactions, his wild writhing. I licked, bit, lightly chewed his crinkled tissue until it swelled and expanded. I bet his cock was leaking precome like mine, but I wasn't going to touch either of us, not yet. My finger ringed his moist entrance, and Leon begged for more.