Under His Guard (8 page)

“You as well, sir.” The young girl was a mirror image of her mother in stature and posture, although her sigh was thoroughly that of a teenager. “May I go now?”

“They are in a world of their own.” Shehu watched his daughter roam away.

“Blissfully so, I'd say.” Pyra bade us both sit back down.

Cannon, Linc, Liz, and the others joined our powwow as the night darkened.

“Any sightings of Cutler?” Liz asked.

“None so far. We've got our eyes on the sky,” Shehu said. Darwin smiled at the mention. “And our ears to the ground.” The chief patted the soil by his hip.

I turned to Raine. “What's the next step to finding this supposed cure?”

“Man must heed Mother Nature's warnings. Life and death are her business, as evidenced by the Purge. This Plague though, this is a mutation of humankind's making.” Raine leaned on his elbows. “The Earth Mother can be vengeful, but there is veracity in her fruits.”

Oh Christ.
Riddles. As if my day hadn't been long enough. Hills would've thought this guy was a genius. I was beginning to think he was another one of Denver's decoys—and a crackpot, shaman or not.

I wasn't alone. Cannon scowled at the guy. “Do you ever speak in plain old English, man?”

“She is giving us guidance on what herbs and roots and shoots to use. Rare plants are cropping up, vegetation that has not been recorded for centuries. How's that?” Raine didn't really explain anything.

“Pathetic,” Cannon said.

“Ah, well, there are those who reach the higher realm of being and those who just be.” Raine shrugged. “You'll have tomorrow to recuperate from your travels before a meeting at the Amphitheater.”

“Is it safe to return to the Territory?” Linc asked.

“About as safe as it is out here in the desert—sitting ducks if the CEO decides to make a quality show of killing more Freelanders.” Raine tossed his cigarette butt into the fire and loped away.

“Ah'm not feelin' the warmth from that man.” Farrow had one of her KA-BARs in hand, whetting it on a flat stone.

“Maybe he'll grow on you.” Sebastian lit a rolled smoke from the hot embers of our fire.

Cannon grumbled, “Like that mangy fucking beard of his.”

We all laughed for a moment before I interrupted the chatter. “One of Shehu's people was murdered yesterday,” I said, keeping my voice hushed. “The one infected with the Plague.”

Everyone glanced at Leon, who continued to chew nonchalantly on a piece of grass. I felt his anxiety spike, though, like hot needles thrust under my nail beds.

“Christ.” Cannon reached over and squeezed Leon's leg.

“So I think we can all agree keeping Leon's situation classified is of the utmost importance.”

Liz popped her knuckles. “And have someone with him at all times.”

“
Alors
. I don' need a bodyguard.”

“
I'll
be with him,” I said.

Although I could tell Leon wanted to protest, he held his tongue. His fear calmed slightly, but he was quick to change the subject. As he eagerly recounted the games he and Sebastian had played earlier with the children, we all began to relax once more.

Sometime later, the encroaching cold swept over the desert. But it was no match for Leon's increasingly heated stare. I whipped off my tunic, balling it behind my head.

Clearly turned on, Leon licked his lips and a breathy “
Mon Dieu
” rolled out of him.

I cast a glance at the abode Leon and I would be sharing. Leon looked at me with deep, starving eyes. A look I couldn't ignore.

“Come to bed, baby,” I said.

Reclining on his elbows, Leon flirted. “Baby? Gonna touch me tonight, Darke? Or you gon' leave me hot and hangin' like you always do?”

I leaned over until our lips hovered a scant distance apart; then I pushed one hand through Leon's shoulder-length locks and gripped a fistful of his hair. His lithe body curled toward me.

“Lemme guess. My casbah awaits?”

One day had bled into the next, and I wanted nothing more than to find some sort of solace with him. “Yes. As do I.”

After a lazy stretch, Leon leaped nimbly to his feet. “Lead on.”

T
he circular abode was just tall enough that I didn't have to duck my head. The walls were fashioned of heavy woven fabrics tacked to wooden beams. The floor was tamped-down earth covered in a variety of blankets.

“This is—”

“Cozy.” Leon lounged against the door as I placed our packs to the side.

“I was gonna say small.” With the temperature dropping outside, it was cooling off in here. I hunkered in front of the little wood burner and started the kindling.

His hand brushed my neck, sending a spear of desire through me. “Not all of us are big as buildings.”

“Pure, solid muscle.” I rose to my feet.

Leon's lusty stare hit me hard and fast. “Don' I know it.”

I moved away. He advanced with his prowling gait, stopping in front of me when the backs of my calves hit the side of the low bed. Leon came up only to my chin, but his presence had a more powerful impact on me than any other man. He grazed one hand up my chest, his fingers stopping to press against the hammering pulse in my throat.

“Lemme ask you somethin'. Do I make you nervous?”

I laughed harshly, my fists in balls beside me. “Yeah.”

He ran his thumb across my nipple, chuckling when my flesh hardened. “Just me?”

“Yes.” I closed my eyes, reeling from the speed with which my cock filled.

He sucked my nipple between his lips, his fingers running up and down my ribs.

“Wait.” I grabbed his hands. “I want to make sure you feel okay.”

Flouncing onto the bed, Leon licked his lips. “Wanna take my blood pressure, too? Maybe a full-body workup?”

“Are you having any symptoms?” I sat next to him.

“Oh yeah. A big one. In my pants. You can inspect dat, too.” Leon winked.

I started to get up, but he grabbed my hand. “I'm fine. I feel fine. Ain't nothin' wrong with me except I'm real fucking horny for you.”

“There's something else, Leon.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get on with it so's we can get to somethin' more fun.”

“Do you think anything…?” My voice drifted off. Maybe I didn't want to know. “Would you remember if anything untoward happened to you when you were kidnapped by Cutler?”

“Untoward? You mean did someone rape me?”

I winced. The nausea I felt during the flight was nothing compared to this.

Seeing my reaction, Leon rushed on. “I don' think so. Remember, I tol' you I've been getting flashes, feelings. I think I'd know if I'd been used like dat.
Mon Dieu.
It's happened enough to me before. I just took the scrip for it…”

“You sold your body.” My jaw locked, and my fingers tightened on his.

“Yeah. I din't have a whole lot of other options when we needed money. I've got a pretty face. I'm good at keepin' dat stuff where it belongs. They could have my body but not my heart.” He shrugged. It was all cut-and-dried to him. “They paid good, treated me all right. I made sure
Maman
had enough to live by. She don' know. She don' need to know.”

I'd suspected as much from a few things he'd mentioned and from Cutler's slurs. Hearing the truth from Leon's lips crushed a part of me where I hadn't even realized hope had sprung, but I'd never let him know. In spite of everything, he remained pure and bright as always.

“I'd never treat you like that.” I caressed his face.

Rubbing against my touch, Leon asked, “How would you treat me?”

“Like a man who is very much desired for who you are. I'd treat you with honor.” My hand moved into his hair. “There's no one here now but you and me, baby.”

“And everyone within hearing range.” He angled his neck to my searching mouth.

I tugged his hair in a fist until his lips were almost at mine. “I can be quieter than you.”

“Is dat a dare?”

I needed him. I couldn't hold back any longer. “Yeah.” I crushed my mouth to his, seeking quick entry. All control snapped. “I want you to suck my cock,” I breathed. Then I remembered my avowal. My hands disentangled from his hair and I sat on my heels.

“Ain't it a good thing I want dat, too?” Leon rolled me over, shyly pleased when he pinioned me to the bed. Sure fingers trailed to my pants. He pulled the fabric down, revealing me bit by bit.

Arching up, I kept my gaze trained on him. He wet his mouth when the tight black curls appeared and then the base of my cock, hard and ready.

“Oh yeah.” Breath whistled from him.

“Like the look of that?'

“I think I'm gon' like the taste of it more.”

Impatient, he snapped the pants down my thighs and off my feet, exposing thick-corded legs and a large, turgid erection.

“Big as the rest of you, huh?” He peered at me with an impish grin playing around his lips. “More than a mouthful there, eh,
beb
?”

“Maybe you should stop talking and find out.” I flexed my cock.

“Fuck, dat's hot.” He sighed, leaning down toward it.

His warm breath blew across me first. It was enough to make me clench my ass. He spiraled his tongue, teasing feathery brushes of his lips across the broad crown.

Leon's sweeping touches brought forth an instant flow of pre-ejaculate, which he loudly slurped up. Fingers tickled through the tight curls of pubic hair down to the pouch of my balls. He traced the seam there with a fingertip, lashing me with more teasing tongue action, never taking me into his mouth.

My shaft turned even darker, even harder.

I finally begged. “Please, baby. Suck it, please.”

He quickly engulfed as much as he could, raising a shout from my throat with his hot, wet slurps.

Looking up hungrily with swollen lips, he fisted my wet shaft. “
Mmm
. Taste fuckin' good. Can't wait to swallow all your come,
beb
, but I gotta figure out how to get more of this cock down my throat.”

My thighs trembled. My voice grew hoarse at the sights and sounds of him going up and down on me.

“Need more,” Leon growled.

I watched him through a sexual haze as he lay down on the bed, his head pillowed at a perfect angle. “Straddle my face. Feed me that cock.”

My face hardened. I had to squeeze the base of my shaft in order not to come right then and there. I moved over him until my knees rested beside his shoulders and brushed his lips with a knuckle. “You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah. I'm starvin' for you.” His cheeks were flushed, his lips swollen.

I pointed my cock down toward his lips. He pulled me in, his fingers gripping my ass. With more than half my length seated inside his throat, I yelled at the wet heat constricting my cock. Thighs shaking, toes curling, I grabbed his head, his hair. I groaned and fingered his stretched lips.

His encouraging noises, his gorgeous cocksucking lips, tore a burning path of desire down my spine to my balls. He twisted his head with each thrust. So incredibly wet was his mouth, he sucked my cock like it was a sloppy last meal. The sounds alone were enough to send me over.

Falling onto my hands above his head, I looked down at him. “
Ahh,
fuck, Leon!”

A hot rush of come spurted from my cock, filling his cheeks with my seed. I held the nape of his neck, coming so forcefully it felt like he was sucking the very essence from me.

Muscles finally releasing, I spread my shaking thighs wider. I jerked when he skimmed his fingertips down the root of my shaft to my aching balls. I lifted off of him. He swallowed noisily, a sound that pushed another round of arousal right into my still-hard cock. When I collapsed beside him, he licked and nuzzled me all over.

I took his lips in a long, slippery kiss, my taste lingering in his mouth. “Get enough?”

“
Mm-hmm
.” He smiled against me.

I flipped him onto his back. “Good, because it's my turn.”

“Oh yeah?”

My breath left me in a groan as soon as his pants slid away beneath my hands. Staring at him, I felt like a wild animal unleashed. The firm muscles of his thighs and the arrow of his pelvis all pointed to his groin. His cock rose toward his belly, long and lean, just like him. It was gorgeous, with a slight hook toward the bell-shaped head.

“Oh fuck.”

Rolling his hips, Leon smiled. He reached a hand down and jerked himself languidly.

“You trim yourself.” Saliva pooled in my mouth.

“Yeah.” His fist moved up and down until I grabbed his wrist, resting his hand at his side.

“I want to do that.”

His moan reverberated in my ears, but I was focused on the tattoo I'd never fully seen before, curving thin black lines that interlocked. It called to me. I traced it with my fingertips.

“Holy fuck, Leon. Who put this on you?”

“I did.”

His skin reacted in goose bumps wherever I touched. Even better, he writhed and gasped when my pointed tongue trailed the intricate design. “What is it?” My voice had never sounded deeper, almost sticking in my throat as arousal—gut deep and so hot—made my cock fill completely again.

“An infinity circle. The end is the beginning.”

“Alpha and Omega. You and me.” I licked him again and he cried out. From hooded eyes, I peered up at him. “You are my end and my beginning.”

“Darke,” he moaned.

I desperately wanted to hear him call me
cher
again. He hadn't since the night in the town hall. But that could wait. I turned my face and drifted my hand to his cock. Liquid welled at the tip. Throbbing with a thick vein up the center, his shaft was deeply red, the head a perfect size for my mouth. He was incredibly rigid.

“Mon Dieu!”

I grazed the head across my cheek and swiped the bubbling liquid across my closed lips.

Leon watched. “Why does it feel like I've waited so long for dis?” His voice was strained.

I licked my lips. “Because you have.” But no longer. Surrounding his cock, I sucked him deep, greedy for every damn thing Leon had to give me. Pain and pleasure, fury and fear, future and hope.
Everything
. Including this moment right now when I feasted on his body, worshipping him with my mouth as I meant to do with my soul.

I pulled his hands to my cheeks and brought mine to his hips. Moving him back and forth, I heard him choke and curse when his shaft bumped against my stretched cheek. It was the hottest thing I'd ever known, his grip tightening, his fingers stroking himself where he butted inside my mouth.

Murmuring, sucking, lapping at him, I snaked my hands to his ass. I slapped my palms against the rounded curves, filling my hands with the taut contours and my mouth with his cock. Rubbing, kneading. Licking, lunging. I gripped his ass cheeks hard and separated them, sliding the side of my hand into his cleft, feeling the smoothness. My pinkie circled his hole, which puckered out like lips needing to be kissed. I dragged my hands around and up his chest, plucking his silky nipples until he began to moan a litany of Cajun words slurred together.

His skin was feverish from arousal. And his arousal multiplied mine.

I took all of him in. He bucked his hips, enflaming me with high-pitched gasps. I pulled off just as his motions became jerky, lightly running my fingertips over the smooth weight of his balls.

His chest heaved with each breath. His eyes bored into mine. “What—”

“I want you to watch me when you come in my mouth.”

His cock swelled; fluid dripped over my fingertips. He nodded frantically, biting his lip.

I gave him a savage grin. “Ready for me to blow your mind?”

His arousal leaped to another level, singing through my soul, singeing my nerves. “Oh, yes.”

I kissed his belly, which trembled. I sucked on his tat until he whimpered. I pulled one testicle into my mouth and then moved on to the other, all the while pumping him loosely. I kept my eyes on his lust-dazed gaze the whole time.

Flicking the tip of his cock over and over, I moved with his circling hips. Then I dove over him, taking him deep down my throat. Leon's head thrashed until I stopped, looking up at him expectantly. His eyes flew to mine, wide and begging.

I sucked back up, then twisted my mouth one way over the head of his cock, my hand gripping him in the opposite direction. This way, that way, I sucked and licked until his moans echoed, his back arched, and I swallowed him down for one frozen second. His seed jetted out. Rising back up, I focused on the spurting tip, my eyelids drifting shut in the pleasure of tasting him for the first time.

Afterward, I cocooned him with my body, the blanket long forgotten. “You are so gorgeous. So precious.”

Shivers raced down his torso, and I trailed them with my lips.

“
Oooh.
Dat was…dat was…
mon Dieu
.” He shifted against me.

“Mmm.”
I kissed along Leon's neck to his ear, satisfied I'd made him come like no other. “I think you were louder.”

His hand skimmed down to my cock, which lay hard and heavy against his thigh. “I think I get another round to prove you wrong.”

I drew in a deep breath. The next place I wanted my cock wasn't in his mouth or in his fist. “Tomorrow.”

He relaxed his hold and his breaths slowed. When I thought he was asleep, I pushed off the bed. I'd noted a jug of water earlier. I wanted to clean Leon up, to show him I cared for him more than this urgent desire to brand him as mine.

“Your back!” He gasped behind me.

I turned to see him sitting up.
Fuck.
I'd forgotten about my moko and the fact I'd kept them hidden from him since his return. Deep scars marred the design he'd so painstakingly marked me with. Not only had he forgotten tattooing me, but he didn't remember the night we'd almost died during the factory explosion in Beta last April. That night I'd protected him, Liz, and Sebastian, forming a human barrier between them and the fiery debris falling down around us. We'd survived intact. My moko had not.