Saffron (7 page)

“I guess so.” Saffron chuckled.

Kenric joined in then kissed her thoroughly. Saffron moaned, leaning into him.

“Are we going to work or are you two going to neck all day?” Shade’s voice came from beside them.

Saffron pulled back a bit, turning her head to meet Shade’s amused gaze. He leaned on the rock wall next to them.

“Aw. Did you want a kiss too?” Saffron teased.

“If he wants to lose his teeth,” Kenric growled.

“You can try,” Shade said languidly.

“Behave.” Saffron gave Kenric a quick peek, pulling away to face Shade. “Stop trying to get a rise out of Kenric.” Saffron walked away with Shade and they headed back to rejoin the others.

“Boss man can handle it,” Shade said.

“He can. But I like you and wouldn’t like to have to pick sides. I’d have to hurt you, and that would get messy.”

Shade stared at her then laughed. “Yeah, that makes me so afraid. Do you see my goose bumps? Not. I don’t think you can hurt anyone
.
”

Saffron didn’t correct his assumption. They got back to work. As she took samples, she could feel Kenric watching her. She didn’t look at him as she would be tempted to zap them somewhere to have her way with him. Kenric’s willingness to embrace all of her made her know when she told him who she was that he would be accepting of it.

Reaching out with her senses to the other sites, Saffron’s eyes narrowed. The feeling that she’d had earlier was no longer there. Saffron focused on her work.

* * * *

“Here are the maps,” Kenric said.

Saffron took them and spread them out on the desk. She was with him, Shade and Flare in the office. Confused, Saffron looked at the maps he had provided.

“No. These aren’t the maps.”

“Yes, they are.”

Saffron straightened turning to him. “These don’t match the ones Kade gave me.”

“What?” Kenric scowled.

She lifted her bag, pulling the maps she had been given out of her tattered brown pack. Saffron spread them next to the ones Kenric had given her.

“These are yours and these are mine. The ones I got from Kade. They are vastly different. Where the hell did you get these maps?” Saffron asked.

“They came from the offices,” Kenric insisted.

“Not possible.” Saffron glanced at the time. “It’s too late to call Kade now. We’ll talk to him tomorrow. But I need to go to the sites you have already drilled.”

“We can’t go tonight. It would be fully dark by the time we got there. Since we’re not working there they have only minimal security. We’ll go at first light. Shade, arrange security for tomorrow,” Kenric said.

Saffron didn’t listen as he made the plans. She reached out with her senses to the other sites to check if there was anything off, but she didn’t sense that there was. They could go in the morning. Saffron focused back on the men in the office. Kenric finished his orders to Shade and Flare then left.

“What the fuck is going on?” Kenric scowled fiercely.

“I don’t know. But we will get to the bottom of it. With the maps you had you would have definitely never gotten near what you were looking for. They would have led you to disaster,” Saffron said.

“There better be a fucking good explanation for this,” Kenric grunted as he studied the differences in the maps.

“Tomorrow we will have answers.” Saffron put her hand on his back.

“Once we find out who messed up. Kade better not let me know who it was. They’re messing with my reputation. Fuckers.” Kenric turned to her.

Saffron smiled at his fierceness. She slid her arms around him.

“Let’s go to bed. We can work off some of that aggression,” she whispered against his lips.

“Don’t know if that will work, but I’m willing to give it a shot.” Kenric kissed her.

Saffron pulled away and gripped his hand and tugged him behind her. They hurried to their room. After closing and locking the door, Saffron turned to him. Kenric stood next to the bed. She crossed to him and stripped him of his clothing, then herself of her garments. With a push she toppled him to the bed. Kenric leant back on his elbows with a smirk on his face. Saffron used her foot to widen his legs. She dropped to her knees. Licking her lips she lowered her gaze to his erection. The tip glistened with wetness. Saffron licked her lips. Leaning forward, she swirled her tongue over the flared head. His essence tantalised her taste buds. He was musky, slightly sweet but also bitter. She wanted to take her time with him. With a swoop she went down on his cock.

“Saffron!” Kenric shouted.

She cut off the sound from everyone else. Slow would have to wait for another time. Now she was burning with desire and needed him to come. Suckling him urgently, she widened into an ‘O’, taking him to the back of her throat. Saffron purred at the back of her throat. Kenric’s fingers gripped her head and pumped into her mouth. Digging her fingers into his thighs, she moaned as she sucked him. His pre-cum filled her mouth. Swivelling her tongue, she bobbed her head, striving to get him off.

Kenric babbled incoherently. With one hand she cupped his sac, squeezing gently, then moved down to just behind it, pressing against the place there. Kenric bucked and his essence filled her mouth. Swallowing it down, Saffron revelled in it. She took it all then kept licking and sucking until he was hard again. Pulling off she stood and straddled him. Kenric sat up. He curled his arms around her, he gripped her shoulders. Saffron rocked forwards, taking him into her wetness. Kenric rested his forehead against hers as she rode him.

“Kenric…” Saffron moaned.

“Love you,” he whispered.

“Love you,” Saffron retuned.

Joy filled her as he moved in time with her. This marvellous man was hers and she was going to keep him. Moaning, Saffron enjoyed the fullness of his shaft rubbing against her inner walls.

Kenric kissed her forehead. Saffron undulated her hips. Tightening his arms around her back, he thrust. Her wanton sound of pleasure made him shudder. Saffron was his.

Earlier, when they had been in the tunnel and she had disappeared, his heart had seized as he’d imagined all sorts of things. Although he’d found her unharmed, the uneasiness he had woken up with had increased because she’d been so secretive about what she had been doing. Saffron might give herself to him physically, but he didn’t like not knowing where he stood with her. Last night she had answered his questions, yet he still felt that she still kept a part of herself hidden from him. It had made him silent and surly. Her request to go to the other sites, with her looking at him with that sexy look, had made him angry. Walking away had seemed best. At least until she had admitted that what they had was more than professional. Going on instinct, he had confessed what he felt. When she had said the words back it had made his knees weak. Them loving each other was what mattered. Everything else they would work out.

Saffron tightened around him, scattering his thoughts. Kenric groaned. Her slickness coated his heated length. Her scent filled his senses. Saffron was one hell of a woman and she was his.

“Kenric,” she said again in that sultry alto.

He thrust inside her pussy. The walls clamped down on his cock, creating a delicious friction. His shaft was sensitised. Saffron rocked forward then tightened around him. Her breath hitched and she spasmed as she came. Kenric moaned as he pulsed, joining her in pleasure. Shuddering, he held her as she shivered. Her whimpers mixed with his exclamations as they continued to come. Slowly it abated. Changing his touch he lay back, holding her against his chest. Saffron snuggled against him, her body limp. Sleep overcame him and he went under.

Kenric jerked away at the pounding sound. Blearily he sat up. He was alone in bed. Scowling, he wondered where Saffron was. The pounding came again. Staggering to his feet he went to the door.

Jerking it open partially he growled. “What?”

“You need to keep better track of your woman. She just left the compound again. My guess is she’s heading out to one of the other sites,” Flare stated calmly.

“Why the hell didn’t you stop her?” Kenric moved away from the door.

He dressed quickly. Turning to face Flare he pushed past him and strode down the hall.

“I didn’t see the damn woman leave the compound. I spotted her through the binoculars. She was way up on the steppes,” Flare said.

Kenric heard the underlying displeasure in his tone. He paused in front of the door outside.

“She’s on foot. Is she crazy?” he said.

“Must be, to be out there this time of night. I sent someone to wake Shade so he can follow us with more men. He’s not going to let me forget letting her get past me,” Flare replied.

Kenric snorted. “She did the same thing when he was on duty.”

“She did, huh? He never mentioned it,” Flare said.

“You and Shade stay here. I’ll head after her. Which way did she go?” Kenric yanked open the door.

“Off to the right, Boss. You better take a Jeep. She was moving fast. It was the damnedest thing I ever seen. ” Flare sounded impressed.

Kenric strode to a Jeep, taking the rifle Flare handed him as he got in. After he placed the gun on the seat beside him he started the vehicle. Kenric drove, keeping an eye out for trouble.

At the first site he asked the men if they had seen her—they had but she was gone. When he questioned them why they had let a lone woman go, they said they hadn’t, but didn’t have a clue how she had left without them seeing. They had detained her because she had arrived on foot and didn’t seem to have any mode of transport or guards. Kenric frowned when they explained that when they’d gone back to check on her she had disappeared.

Kenric got back into the Jeep and went to the next area. As he went to each, the story was the same. He’d just missed her and they hadn’t seen her leave. It was baffling that she had got so far on foot.

Pulling up to the last site he frowned at the darkened place. There should have been some illumination, and guards posted. Moving with stealth, he approached the location. The darkness was almost absolute. A lone blaze came from the shaft. A light flared. He dropped to the ground, moving up behind a truck. Peeking around it, he narrowed his gaze.

“That’s the last of the charges. Let’s get out of here before all hell breaks loose.” The man strode out of the lift.

The rest of the men followed him. Kenric didn’t recognise them.

“I always knew you were a weasel, Frank.” Saffron’s voice cut through the night.

Kenric stifled a curse as Saffron came into view.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Frank Grimmel, the boss’s brother, said.

“Righting a wrong that
you
are doing to what I protect.” Saffron’s voice seemed to echo.

“I knew Kade sending you here would be a pain in my ass. Oh, big brother Kade, thinking he is above everyone. I thought changing the maps would make this place blow. But then he sent you in, and somehow you convinced that asshole Kenric to change path from what was on the maps. You’ve forced me to come back to this godforsaken country. For that alone, I will kill you. And then, when this place blows, the company and all Kade built, as a
supposedly
ethical and environmentally aware man, will go with it. And Kenric will either be dead or blamed along with him. There is nothing you can do.” Frank sneered. “Get her out of my sight.”

The men closed in on her. Saffron didn’t move. Her voice lashed out.

“I sentence all of you for atrocities against the earth. I banish you to its depths.”

One moment the men were there then they started to fade. Kenric stood up, shocked at what he could not possibly be seeing.

“What is happening?” Frank roared.

“Justice,” Saffron stated coldly.

He disappeared from view. Kenric strode towards Saffron. Once he was close to her he spoke.

“What—”

“Hang on.” Saffron reached out and touched him.

A sense of displacement filled him and his ears rang. In a moment it passed. He staggered then the sounds around him registered. Kenric glanced up, recognising that they were at a different site. Men were running from the site they were working at. The lift arrived and men poured off to get away. Flare and Shade were last off, running and shouting at the others to clear out. A loud boom shook the ground. Kenric took a step forward, his legs like lead. Flames licked up out of the hole and spurted at them. Flare and Shade screamed as they were engulfed. The fire rushed to the other men. Time seemed to slow then everything before him went still. Kenric shook, his eyes wide. A sensation travelled up along his back. Turning he stumbled away. A massive, translucent lion stared at him with unblinking green eyes. It opened its mouth and roared. The sound rattled his bones. It lowered itself and lay, legs crossed, on the ground.

“Helis!” Saffron yelled.

Kenric glanced higher. Saffron was standing on its back, her hands widespread. A light spread out of her right hand, curling around her wrist then flowing outward. It slithered and hissed as it came towards him. It paused a second, looking at him with eyes the same colour as the lion’s. A serpentine tongue licked his cheek, then the luminous snake flowed past him, rippling. Saffron’s left palm seemed to glow and a lotus flower bloomed. Its stem wrapped around her wrist and it extended. The soft petals brushed his cheek, seeming to caress him as it went beyond him.

Kenric stepped back slowly then shifted to the side. He hissed as he moved through the stream of light for the flower stem. The seemingly electric current made goose bumps break out all over his body. He turned, following where the snake and lotus flower went. He shaded his eyes against the incandescence. Once his eyes had adjusted, he lowered his hand. The snake slithered around the ground, all over the camp. Wherever it touched, the area seemed to repair. As it plunged down the shaft, the flames lowered then diffused.

Shade and Flare still smouldered with fire. The smell of burnt flesh reached his nose. The lotus surrounded the men then slid under them, lifting them up. It closed over them, enfolding them within its petals, and glowed bright violet. It slowly lowered back to the ground and opened. Flare and Shade strode off. The lotus disappeared. The snake came out of the shaft, rising high in the air. It nodded its head at him then it faded. Flare and Shade spotted him and came over. Time started moving again and the site was busy as people hurried around working. Kenric stumbled back, shaking his head. A hand between his shoulders stopped him.