The Wolf's Bounty Page 19

  He shook his head like a dog. His hair flapped aside, and he took in a deep breath. “I’m okay. Let’s get out of here.”

  He struck out into the stream with powerful strokes. In seconds, he gained the bank. He set Raleigh’s hands on the landing ledge, but she lacked the strength to drag herself out. He had to push her up until she collapsed in a sodden heap on the stones.

  He planted both hands on the ledge and vaulted up with no trouble. He twisted around to sit down next to her. He squeezed as much water as he could out of his clothes and sniffed.

  Raleigh couldn’t move except to pant for every breath. She would have passed out there if Bishop hadn’t picked her up and set her upright. “You’re okay. You just need rest. You go back to the house. The stairs aren’t too far upstream.”

  “Where are you going?” she asked. “Do you still plan to go to the market?”

  “I’m not going to the market. I’m going to get Dax.”

  Raleigh’s breath stuck in her throat. “You can’t do that. You can’t fight that thing. That Endavor was twice the size of the Endavors who came after us before.”

  Bishop pulled off one boot, drained the water out of it, and put it back on. He didn’t look at her. “You don’t have to come. I’m going after Dax. I won’t leave Hinterland until I get him back.”

  Raleigh regarded him. She knew him well enough by now to recognize that tone in his voice. He spoke in a low undertone, barely loud enough to hear. Cruel determination strained that voice. He would never turn aside.

  “I got Dax into this, and I’ll get him out of it. He came down here to rescue us. Don’t ask me how he did it or how he knew where we were. That doesn’t matter. He did it, and now he’s a captive. That Endavor will take him back to Rolling Downs. Fuki must have developed a super-Endavor somehow. That Endavor will take Dax to him. Maybe Fuki will try to ransom Dax in exchange for me. I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m going. You should go back to the house.”

  Raleigh collapsed back on the rock. Stress and tension racked her nerves. What could she do? She wanted nothing more in the world than to retreat to the safety of Bishop’s house, but she couldn’t let Bishop go after Dax alone. Dax was out there somewhere. Fuki would keep him alive until Bishop came after him.

  The longer they stayed on this landing, the more likely the Endavor would make a mistake, or Fuki would lose patience, or something like that. If that happened….She shook those thoughts out of her head.

  She peered at Bishop one more time. “Bishop?”

  He didn’t look at her. He tightened the buckle across the top of his boot. “Hmm?”

  She swallowed hard. “You don’t think they would….you know….”

  His eyes whipped around to face her, and his jaw clenched his teeth shut. His eyes flashed. Quicker than lightning, he launched himself at her. He tackled her backward on the stones and welded his mouth against her lips. He mauled the kisses off her and crushed her into the landing. He got the words out between manic devouring forays into her mouth. “We’re gonna get him back. Don’t you worry. We’re going after him, and we’ll get him.”

  She sank under his weight, but the sheer relief of holding him in her arms, of seeking assurance in him from her worst fears, burst through her so hard she couldn’t stand it. She screwed her eyes shut against the tide of emotion, but it surged over her so fast she couldn’t stop it. Before she knew what she was doing, she wound her arms around him and hugged him down on top of her.

  He weaseled his hips between her legs. She would have opened to him, but at the last second, he drew back. He rose above her to regard her from on high. She gazed up into his eyes and beheld the same man she left behind in her bedroom.

  They both feared the worst for Dax. They both cared for him. They would both do whatever it took to save him and bring him back. She could hide in Bishop. She wasn’t alone.

  His gnawing passion faded, but the desire still burned in him. His body stretched hard and taut. Their love got all mixed up with tension from the life-threatening situation they just go out of mixed with the one they would get back into in a few moments.

  She grabbed him with both hands. She pulled him down on top of her harder than he weighed her down. She needed him right now. She needed him to anchor her, to give her one solid ground to stand on when everything swayed and changed all around her.

  She had no idea what the future held. She couldn’t even comprehend what happened a few minutes ago. Nothing made sense but him. He worked his presence into her being. She understood him. She knew him. She could count on him and trust him when she couldn’t count on anything else.

  He gobbled at her lips, and his hands glided down her sides to her hips. He would take her any second now. The excitement quickened between her legs, and she tensed to meet his rising passion.

  All at once, he broke away. He rolled over and sat up. One leg stretched out in front of him. He propped his elbow on his other knee and scowled down at his hands. His face knit in brooding concentration.

  Raleigh pushed herself up to stare at him. What was he doing over there with his back to her when he just lit her desires that way? What was wrong with him? Didn’t he want her after all?

  She put out her hand to touch him, but she let it fall before it got there. She couldn’t extend herself to touch him when he turned away from her this way. She hung her head in misery. She hardened herself against feeling anything toward him at a time like this.

  At that moment, he looked up. His eyes met her gaze, and she read such a depth of emotion and tortured determination there she couldn’t bear it. He wanted her. He wanted her more than ever, but so many forces pulled him in all directions he couldn’t have her.

  The job pulled him toward the market. Dax pulled him toward Rolling Downs. She pulled him toward herself. A man couldn’t live like this. Her desire died within her. She didn’t want to add to his burden. If she could only help him, if she could only make his burden lighter, she would ask nothing more.

  His eyes searched her soul. He needed her. He needed so much more from her than her body right now. He needed help. He needed a solid foundation to stand on the same way she needed the same thing from him.

  She dropped her aching desire. She could pick it up again sometime when they weren’t facing certain death trying to save Dax from captivity. She could be strong and tough and untouchable for Bishop’s sake.

  Now at last her hand crossed the last space between them. She squeezed his arm, and when she smiled at him, all her love poured out to him through her eyes. His features softened, and his eyes glistened with an inner light she didn’t see there before.

  His face twitched, but he stopped short of actually smiling. He bent forward to kiss her, a tender, comforting kiss, a warm and benevolent kiss. None of his former passion burned in that kiss, and she didn’t want it anymore. They had better things to do right now.

  He didn’t release her, though. His eyes kept holding her in that moment. His lips kept exploring her, delving and tasting her. Could it be he still wanted something more from her? Could it be he hadn’t given up on her at all? He turned away from her in pain. Their situation distracted him. He didn’t want to take her like this, on the cold hard ground by the bubbling river.

  He opened his mouth. Her lips matched him, and his tongue flickered out to meet hers. Then they returned to gazing at each other in wide-eyed questioning wonder. Were they really going to do this?

  He leaned a little farther forward. He pressed his lips tighter against her mouth so she eased back. The Earth’s gravity towed them down. She reclined back on the hard paving stones. He folded forward to lie down next to her, and still their lips remained locked for all eternity. They remained entwined in their hearts and bodies and minds even here, in this cold and barren Hinterland.

  The adrenaline built up from their adventure made her juices flow. This is the life she had secretly craved every night when she lived on that farm. Back home, she knew what each day would bring.
In the dark world of Hinterland, she didn’t know what the next minute would bring into her life! And she didn’t have to face it alone. They had each other. Whatever happened, they could face it. They could survive it, as long as they had each other.

  He raised his hand, but it hovered over her cheek without touching her. Did he hesitate to touch her the same way she hesitated? Did he wonder if she could love him like this? They stared at their own reflections in each other’s faces. They both suffered the same aching need only the other could fill.

  Their bodies came together out of the reaches of time. The boundless love and passion took hold of them here, the same way it took hold in Raleigh’s bedroom. Nothing could keep them apart.

  When they came together this time, though, none of the crashing heat of rabid lust smashed them against each other in a devastating collision. They sealed all the light and space and air out from between their lips and bodies, but they did it so slowly no one would know the blinding collision ever occurred.

  The mind-exploding tempest of orgasmic delight crept over Raleigh on tiny tiptoes. It enfolded her from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair until she couldn’t deny it. Bishop took two handfuls of her ass and held her against his hard prick. She could no longer deny the inevitable.

  She dove her hands down his back to his belt. She burrowed into his pants until she found bare skin, but he already had hold of her the same way. She got his belt open just as he sidled her pants over her hips to bare her below the waist.

  His hard member pointed between her legs. In the blink of an eye, he was in. Her wetness engulfed him, and she moaned to suck him into her depths. His lips went hard and tough against her mouth. He growled between his teeth, and his hands tightened to fists against her ass, but he never lost that sweet softness of his first touch. No matter what he did, he would always be soft and gentle and tender to her, even when he crushed her to smithereens.

  His shaft stroked through her swollen cunt. It scratched the delicate tissues around her entrance until she couldn’t contain the screaming climax. She clawed his back, his ass, his thighs. She bit his shoulder and his neck until he yelped, but he pressed his head into her for more.

  His energy entered her with every thrust. He filled her to bursting with his cataclysmic love. She could never get enough of that. She hugged her thigh around his hip to penetrate her frozen self with his blazing hot cock. She had to have it. She needed it to live.

  They lay on their sides, face to face. Their lips entwined in manifold kisses while he plunged deep inside her creamy pussy. He stroked her to glowing brightness until she tilted her head sideways. She sank her teeth into his shoulder and sobbed in blessed relief. She never had to worry about him. She could always take comfort that he loved her, he wanted her, he cherished her even in the worst circumstances.

  His mounting cries echoed into her hair until he gasped once. The tremors rocked down his stomach to the pumping organ between her legs, and his juices spurted into her hotter and stickier than she could stand. She quaked all over in delicious fulfillment, and they clutched each other in their arms for one heavenly moment before the sky caved in.

  Chapter 28

  Bishop pulled out one of his pistols and checked the priming. When he opened the chamber, water dribbled out. He smacked his lips and hurled the gun into the river.

  Raleigh gasped. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s useless now. What did I tell you? These primitive weapons won’t do any good down here. A little water, and it’s not good for a child’s toy. You don’t bring a basting iron to a tea party.”

  Raleigh opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped when he pulled out the cube weapon. He rotated it in his hand and checked something or other. She couldn’t figure out what.

  He put it back in his pocket and glanced around. “We getter get going.”

  “How are we going to get there? We’ve got no vehicle, and we’ve got no boat. I don’t think anybody’s going to come along and rescue us this time.”

  He pursed his lips. “No. We’ll just have to hike.”

  She said nothing, but fell in behind him heading back upriver. The walk took a lot longer than she expected. Her legs went numb and her stomach twisted in hungry knots, but she didn’t dare complain. Only one though occupied her mind: Dax.

  Wherever he was, she had to find him. He risked everything to help them. They had to get him back alive and safe.

  Hours passed. The territory the vehicle left behind in a few minutes spread out before them. Raleigh would have expected the journey to take days, but Bishop knew which winding passages to take and which to avoid. He turned off the river and climbed into the black Earth before he emerged somewhere near Niui’s hideout.

  He paused to look back at Raleigh. “Are you ready?”

  She couldn’t reply. Ready for what? Ready to meet her maker? She would rather die than go back to Bishop’s house without Dax. Bishop didn’t wait for an answer. He took out the cube weapon and walked the last few paces to the tunnel entrance opening into Rolling Downs.

  Raleigh took out her cube weapon, too, but she didn’t check it. She didn’t know how to use it. If this terrible situation came to a fight—and she didn’t see how it could do anything else—she could be defenseless. She could only hope for the best.

  They emerged on the landing where they left the vehicle, but what do you know? It wasn’t there. Raleigh waved her hand. “Well, what did I tell you?”

  Bishop punched his fist into his palm. “Drat that Fuki! I’ll kill him for this.”

  “You won’t get a chance. Look!” Raleigh pointed across the valley.

  The thousands of Britlis still toiled away in all directions, but not one Endavor whipped them or supervised them or even came near them. In fact, not one Endavor walked among the laboring slaves at all.

  A couple hundred Endavors crowded together beyond the mining station where Bishop and Raleigh met Fuki. The big Endavor who destroyed their boat towered over all the others. His head grazed the ceiling, and he still waved a tiny human figure in one brutish paw. Dax.

  As Bishop and Raleigh watched, the whole mob of Endavors flocked to the far end of the valley. They wound their way up a steep path and filed into the rock heading who knows where. They were already so far away Raleigh and Bishop would have had to hurry to catch up with them even in the magic speeding vehicle, and they didn’t have that.

  Raleigh’s heart sank. They couldn’t get anywhere near Dax to save him. She stuck her cube back in her pocket. They would have to fall back to the house in defeat. She sighed and started to say something when Bishop shot forward.

  Without a word, he bolted down the path to the valley floor. He held the cube in one hand and some other mysterious weapon in the other. He hadn’t gone ten paces when the first lightning bolt splattered out of his hand and peppered the cavern all around.

  Raleigh stared at him in shock. He fired both weapons right and left in no particular order. The lightning bolts rocketed this way and that. They struck the cavern walls and sent debris raining down on the horrified Britlis. The little creatures scurried for cover. They dropped their burdens and abandoned the mining apparatus.

  Raleigh couldn’t get her mind to comprehend what she was seeing. Bishop made no attempt to attack the retreating Endavors. They would take Dax away, and she would never see him again.

  Bishop gained the valley floor. He never stopped running, and he showed no sign of aiming his weapons at the Endavors, either. He waved his hands in circles and fired anywhere the weapons happened to be pointing when they went off.

  Blue lines of light whizzed out of the other weapon. It scorched the ceiling far above. It sliced through the mining contraption Raleigh noticed before. It cut Britlis in half, but Bishop paid no attention. He put all his energy into running and firing as fast as he could.

  One blast of lightning exploded above the Endavors’ heads. Dust and rock sprinkled onto their heads, and they turned around. They sp
otted the tiny figure snaking his way toward them along the valley floor.

  They about-faced in a rage. Bishop was still miles away from them, but they wheeled and charged him at top speed. They stomped any Britli who got in their way. They raged and thundered. They laid right and left with whips and clubs.

  The hugest Endavor still held Dax in one massive paw. Dax’s arms and legs flapped when the Endavor waved him around. The giant creatures crossed that valley in seconds heading straight for Bishop.

  Raleigh reeled for an instant. At last she understood. Bishop didn’t have to reach the Endavors. He didn’t have to catch up with them. All he had to do was distract them with his attack. All he had to do was make them turn around and come to meet him. They brought Dax right to him.

  She charged off the ledge with a feral shriek ripping from her lungs. She had to be part of this. She had to be there to intercept the Endavors when they confronted Bishop. She had to lend her hand in whatever way she could.

  She pounded down the path. Her hand went to her pocket to fish out the cube. She still had no idea how to use it, but Bishop showed her that didn’t matter. She didn’t even look at it. What difference did it make in the end? All she had to do was fire it.

  She touched one of the lines while she ran. She traced it to the corner where it intersected another line. She held the cube out in front of her and pressed. A scorching beam of red light hissed out of it. It shot straight up toward the ceiling. Its heat singed between her fingers until she adjusted her hand to give the weapon room to operate.

  At her first shot, Bishop glanced over his shoulder to see where it came from. When he saw Raleigh barreling down behind him, he surged forward faster than ever. The Endavors approached from the opposite direction. Raleigh and Bishop wouldn’t have much time once the fight engaged, and she better know what she was doing by then.

  Raleigh kept firing as fast as she could make her mind work. She pushed one button after another until she determined what weapons fired from which parts of the cube. Her thoughts slowed to a snail crawl. She could focus on many different things at once. She could even distinguish enough detail on the cube to understand which buttons released which weapons. Bishop was right. She learned on the hoof.