Her being in Phantom Corps had been a completely unexpected turn. Wilhelm had never surprised him so much. The man was not given to rash decisions of any sort. There were waiting lists years and years long to apply to the special teams.
But, as usual, Ellis had known what even Andrei hadn’t been overly sure of. Piper was a natural at this.
She was good at the job. Would get better as she trained. Daniel had asked him the prior day if he’d be interested in being her trainer. Normally, it wouldn’t be something he’d take on, but they worked well together as it was. They had that sort of intensity of unspoken communication it takes years to develop with a partner.
He had it with Daniel, but then again, they’d worked together for years. And he had it with Piper. She’d need others to help her, others who could help her develop skills that weren’t Andrei’s strengths.
Piper being Piper, she’d simply made a place in his life and had no plans to give it up. He should encourage her otherwise, and they’d need to have that discussion at some point that wasn’t wrought with urgency and disaster. But he liked her there with him.
She came back to him, wiping her hands on the front of her pants, which were probably dirtier than her hands. Wisely, he kept that part to himself, tossing her the pack of special cloths he carried with him.
“You’re the finest man in all of creation.” She eased onto a nearby rock with a groan and began to clean up with the cloth.
He handed her a food packet.
She looked at it and laughed. “Haven’t seen one of these since my days in the corps.”
“Still tastes like the bottom of a boot, but it’s got all the stuff you need to keep working and thinking.”
“It feels so good to sit down, I don’t think I have the energy to care what it tastes like just now.” She tore into the package and began to eat, sipping her water from time to time.
“We can kip for three hours, maybe four. Then we’ll continue east. Unless or until we get readings that take us in another direction, I think the areas like this one, with so much destruction all around, relatively deserted and still close to the private portal in the valley, are our best bet.”
“I didn’t see much when I set the alarms. Used the heat scope, no human life within sight. Some small birds though, so there’s hope. Life finds a way, I guess.”
She crawled into the shelter and toed her boots off. “I don’t want to sleep if you’re not with me.”
He heartily agreed with that point, following her, settling in the bag along with her. She snuggled into him, and within moments, they’d both dropped to sleep.
Chapter 18
Her muscles had stopped aching about two hours into the hike after they’d broken camp. She was grateful for the way she’d had to be so physical before, because she sure as seven hells couldn’t have kept up with Andrei if she hadn’t.
He was a machine. He caught everything. His awareness was nearly superhuman. She watched him carefully, learning. His patience with her endless questions seemed limitless. He answered in detail, often opting to show her how to do something instead of telling.
They’d been inching through a culvert, both of them unsettled, making small progress for the last hour. There was something not entirely right in the air. They’d stopped a few times already because of her feeling and found nothing.
But the air was wrong. Different than it had been before. She double tapped the mic, pausing to pull the analyzer from a pocket.
He turned, pausing to grab his water and drink, keeping an eye on the area as she took the data.
A spike.
“Andrei,” she whispered, and he turned, focus totally on her. And then he was there, hand on her arm, looking down at the screen.
“Motherfucker.”
She nodded. The screen had lit from traces of the off-gases frequently used in processing minerals.
“Enough that this isn’t an echo of what was done before the bombings,” she muttered as she pulled up the map of industrial sites pre-existing the attack.
He kissed her, hard and fast, leaving her head spinning. “You got some gut on you, my beautiful criminal.”
She grinned, and then the sickness came back. “I could still be wrong. We need to get closer to see just what we’ve got.”
“Let’s get in closer, get some more documentation. We’ll need an extraction. And most likely some backup.”
He forwarded the data back to Mirage, and they headed toward the source of the readings.
The air was close, humid, clinging to Piper’s face as they crept through the undergrowth, checking the readings periodically to keep their direction true. Another click, and the reader pinged with more data. Liberiam.
He halted, sending the data to Daniel.
She caught her breath and mopped her face off as they waited for a response.
It came soon enough. “He wants us to get visual confirmation. They’re sending reinforcements now.”
He shoved his water at her, and she took it gratefully. He watched her, those careful eyes roving over her face. “Are you all right?”
“All things being equal, I’d far prefer being eighteen ’Verses away from here. You and me. No war. No stench of death in my nose. But we’re here, and we have a job to do. I’m fine. The water helped.”
“Eat this.” He procured an energy bar and passed it her way. It wasn’t a fine, fancy meal, but it was what her body needed, so she made quick work of it before standing again.
He paused, his fingertips lighting on her collarbone, making her shiver. “You’re doing a great job. I’ve been impressed with your stealth. And your gut. You’re the reason we just found the processing facility.”
No praise could have affected her more deeply than those few words from him. He didn’t say things he didn’t mean. She smiled and hugged him.
“I have a good teacher.”
He snorted.
“Let’s see how fondly you feel for me after I tell you that I am in command here. My orders are to be followed to the letter. We can’t afford to engage them unless there is no other choice.”
She rolled her eyes. “How is that any different than how you are any other day?”
“I’ll take point.” He moved away with that nearly inhuman, magical grace, and she did her best to follow, though by comparison she felt like a giant beast trampling through the brush.
Time seemed to crawl as slowly as they did. The sweat was a fabulous magnet for all the dirt they seemed to gather.
There was no more banter back and forth, and after a while, the hum of activity rose through the air, and her stomach fell as nervousness bit her skin like thousands of insects. Fear that they’d fail. That she’d fail him when he needed her most.
And there, below them, tucked in a hidden little valley, lay the plant she knew without a doubt processed the ingredients the Imperialists would use to create a device that would destroy the foundations of everything she’d ever known.
She took vid coverage as Andrei commed with Ravena. His fingers moved fast and furious as his features darkened. She imagined there must be a flurry of activity in several ’Verses to get a response in motion.
Clearly upset, he motioned her back, down from the edge where they’d been perched. They said nothing as he led them back up the ridge and into some cover.
Andrei let out his breath and indicated she sit. “We’ll make camp here. A team is already inbound.” He paused, not wanting to say the next part. “Kenner is with them.”
She stood. “What? What? Why? Is Taryn here, too?”
“Taryn is back in Mirage. They both showed up, and Ellis thinks Kenner can help by piloting.”
She shook her head so hard it made him dizzy to watch. “Bullshit. No. Andrei, no. Julian is a top-rated pilot. Why not him?”
“Julian is being put into play elsewhere. Vincenz will be here, but we need his skill set with all the science and tech.”
“He’s not trained for this. This is for expe
rts. Why can’t someone else do it? You can fly; I can fly. Why the fuck are they involving Kenner?”
He took a deep breath, unused to not agreeing with Ellis. He’d argued harder than he’d ever done, totally opposed to letting Kenner come along. Military training and cargo runs aside, this mission was complicated and dangerous, and he didn’t even want Piper there, much less her twin.
But he’d been overruled, and he couldn’t deny it had left a sour taste. He’d been put in a position of protecting her and her family from his other family. It soured his stomach that he’d been reminded of the gravity of the situation and told to get back to work or risk permanent lockup for insubordination in a time of war.
“An entire battalion of Imperialist soldiers has engaged our troops in Ceres. Julian is dealing with that. Kenner was there and pushed his involvement. Whatever he said pushed Ellis to send him here.”
“I’ve not asked you for anything. Not other than your commitment to me. I’m begging you, please send him away when he arrives.”
He hurt so much for her right at that moment that he’d have ripped his heart out and laid it at her feet if it would have helped.
“I’m sorry. I’ll do what I can when he arrives.” He’d risk decommission if he had to. Anything to wipe the pain from her features.
Her eyes, filled with tears, found his. “He wouldn’t stand for it, even if you tried. And you could risk lockup for refusing an order during wartime.”
She was in his arms, and he held her tight, murmuring his apologies.
“It’s not your fault. I know him. I expect he saw the opportunity to help and took it. It’s who he is.”
His heart ached for her.
“How long till they get here?” Her voice was muffled against his chest.
“They were already in transit with priority clearance and a fast transport. They’ll pick up the helo at the portal. Two of them, actually. You’ll fly the other.” He hadn’t liked that much, either. But if she was at his side, at least he could keep a closer watch on her.
“Why didn’t you tell me that earlier? When I was so mad about them sending Kenner?” She tipped her head back.
“You needed to run through it all. Needed to get it out. You didn’t need more details. Didn’t need excuses or explanations.”
She wiped her eyes on his shirt, and he tried not to laugh. “Tears, yes. Anything that comes from your nose, you use your own shirt for. I draw the line at snot.” He tried to look stern, but she only laughed, as he’d hoped she would.
“You know me better than I know myself it seems. Thank you for it.”
“We have about two standard hours before they arrive at the drop point to pick us up.”
“They’re flying helos down that canyon? The sound will echo for miles.”
“They’ll fly on the outside of the ridge until they get closer, and then they’ll come for us here. They’ll be using the silent birds.” He looked down at his comm where the coordinates blinked. “Not exactly here. We need to move back two clicks or so. Near that last set of pools we found.”
“Silent birds really exist?” Wow, that was huge. She’d heard they had the technology, but the idea of a totally silent helo seemed too much like a fantasy. And she’d be flying one.
Even better, she saw from the look on his face that he understood just how thrilled she’d be.
“Let’s get moving then.” She held her hand out, and they got a move on to get back to the extraction point.
Piper was so far in love with Andrei she could barely put one foot in front of the other without tripping. The way he’d handled the situation with her anger and shock at Kenner’s involvement had been utterly selfless. He could have argued with her, made her see reason. Now that she’d gotten some distance from the first telling and he’d given her more information as they walked, she’d come to understand the whys of it.
But for that moment when she’d heard, fear swallowed her. All the fear she’d been swimming against since they’d arrived and she’d had to helo-jump. She’d been drowning in it, and he simply stood back and let her process. Even when she knew she asked the impossible and to stop Kenner when he arrived, Andrei had said yes, risking losing his commission and being tossed in permanent lockup for refusing an order during wartime.
And he’d done it for her. Put her before all else. That’s what had done it in the end. The slap in the face of just how much he loved her and just what he’d do to make her happy. What woman could resist such a man? He wasn’t big with flowery words, but hadn’t she told him she wanted deeds and not words anyway? Well, he’d given her exactly that.
No, as things stood, they were stretched for specialists. Julian was off dealing with Ceres; Vincenz was coming with two other operatives. This was purely a snatch, grab and destroy mission. Every man needed to contribute with whatever skills he had. Of course her brother would see an opportunity to help in a situation like this one and take it. It was who he was. Who Taryn had raised them to be.
Tired, sweaty and covered in dust, undergrowth and a few dead spiders, they arrived at the extraction point.
She needed to do something other than wait.
Checking that they had the time and seeing they did, she peeled her clothes off and jumped into the bottom-most pool. They’d tested the water when they’d passed by earlier that day and found it clean enough to bathe and even drink after he used the treatment drops in it.
The cool of it against her heated skin made her feel better immediately, and when he swam past, equally naked, dark hair wet and slicked back, she knew what else they could do to pass the time.
Diving, she swam across to him, surfacing and sliding her body up his. “I need you.”
Treading water, he touched her, sliding the pad of his thumb over her cheekbones, tracing. “It seems I always need you. I touch you and the noise quiets, the calm descends and all I can see and feel is you. Everything else falls away.”
Piper understood just then that she was his respite as equally as he was hers. She was his place of home, of calm and good things. And it made her proud. She’d never imagined that she’d feel honored to be loved by the right person. Gods knew that she’d have laughed if someone had told her how fulfilling it would be to be that to someone . . . home. That when he touched her and all his pain dropped away, all his guilt and fear gone because of her, it simply meant everything.
He swam backward as she rested against his chest, safe in his arms.
“Wait here a moment.” He hopped out, and she watched as he rifled through the pack and brought out one of the sleeping bags and laid it down. “Now, come join me.”
“You’re so good to me.” She moved to him, lying with him in the circle of his arms.
“I’m about to get better.” He laid her on her back, kissing his way straight down to her pussy. Her breath gusted from her as he licked and sucked, tickling her clit, building her up. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from making too much noise.
He touched her with ministering hands, each kiss and caress a shouted declaration. Even with his mouth on her cunt, there was something sweet about it, tender. Her emotions, still close to the surface, ran riot as tears tracked down her face.
She rolled, scrambling atop his body. “I need you inside me.”
Reaching back, she grabbed his cock, angling it and sliding back, filling herself with him as he caressed her torso, tracing over the love bites, rolling and tugging her nipples as she rose and fell over him.
“I love you, Andrei.”
“I can’t imagine why, but I’m grateful for it nonetheless.”
She bent to kiss lips that tasted of her body.
“You are everything,” he said, and she swallowed his words, letting them fill her in a way as integral as his cock had.
“Not true. We’re everything.” She braced her hands on his ribs, loving the feel of him, solid and hard. He used his body over and over again to protect her. Because he loved her.
She swivele
d down on him, fully enjoying the feel of him deep inside her.
“I’m so wet,” she leaned down again, kissing his chin. “The things you do to me, Operative Solace.”
“You mean my mouth on your pussy? My tongue sliding through every fold and dip? You taste so good I want to gorge and gorge on you.”
She shivered as his words played between them.
“Mmm, your cunt just squeezed me. You like it when I say dirty things.” His smile promised wicked things, and she couldn’t wait.
She nodded. “Yes. Because I know you never show this side of yourself to anyone but me. It makes me feel special and beautiful to move you to speak like that.”
“You devastate me. Your taste on my lips, your feel on my hands, my cock deep inside that molten heat. So tight that when I first slide in you it’s all I can do not to blow right then.”
“You’re going to make me cry.” She kissed him again and straightened.
“Those good tears?”
She laughed, leaning back, bracing her hands on his thighs. The change in angle was delightful, and she danced right on the very edge of coming.
He reared up, holding her down on him as he thrust up over and over, so hard her breasts swayed and she made a sound she hadn’t intended to each time he slammed home.
This Andrei made her light-headed. His jaw was clenched, teeth bared as the muscles on his forearm corded where he held her down and those in his magnificent belly flexed as he moved.
“Come all over my cock, Piper.”
A gasp tore from her lips as she considered denying it was possible, but she made herself a liar by exploding around him, coming hard and fast.
A snarl of her name, and he pushed up again, the jerk of his cock as he unloaded into her body. His fingers dug into the muscle of her thigh and ass.
She fell over with a limp sigh.
“I feel much better than I did back there on the ridge.”
He chuckled. “They’ll be here soon. Let’s get cleaned up, and I’ll go over the plans with you.”
Chapter 19