Page 15 of Latham
Latham reached out and snagged his backpack. “Did you have time to grab any survival rations?”
“A couple of handfuls, even though I thought you were delusional to say we’d need them. I’m sure glad now,” she said as he handed her one and a nutritional drink packet.
“We should try to make these last since we don’t know how long we’ll be stuck out here,” he said, doing a quick count of the stash she’d tucked in with his gear.. “I may have to go hunting. But we should eat well tonight to keep our strength up for hiking tomorrow.”
“I have a handful of candies from the hotel in my pack,” she admitted. “You know, those luxury ones Housekeeping leaves on the bedside table or the pillow? I was saving them but I think tonight is the occasion.”
They were both pretty worn out from the stress of the day and curled up together under a survival blanket Latham had in his pack. Helaine began to think he could produce almost anything out of the seemingly bottomless bag and she was grateful. Her sleep wasn’t restful, broken by nightmares of the tsunami. Every time she woke up, Latham was holding her, whispering reassurances in her ear. He made her feel safe and she was able to drift back to sleep each time without much trouble. Only to have another dream of the dirty black wave towering over her, threatening to drown her in its depths.
The last time she flicked her eyes open with a gasp, she wasn’t in Latham’s arms. He was only a few feet away, feeding more wood into the fire. Thunder was booming outside the cave and she guessed the sound had awakened her. Rubbing her arms, she joined him at the fire. “Is the thunder bothering you as much as it’s getting to me?” she asked, leaning into him.
He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a tired smile. “Yes. This is the worst night I’ve had since meeting you though and it’s nothing compared to my usual bout of PTSD. You’ve really had a good effect on me, mate.”
“I’m glad.” After a minute of debating with herself, she asked, “What happened on your last mission? If it will help to talk about it.”
At first he was so silent she assumed he wasn’t going to reply and regretted her question.
“Ardanna may have only recently become a full-fledged member of the Sectors, with a seat on the Council and all the pomp,” he said, “But we’ve been running military ops with them for years now, doing….some pretty bad stuff. I was in the Special Forces and we don’t do routine. We operate outside the fence, in enemy territory, doing things no one else can do. Or would ever be asked to do.” He glanced at her. “You don’t need to carry the burden of all the details, sweetheart. Let’s just say on my last mission we were out there and we got ambushed. Never saw it coming, which is on me because I was leading the team. Lost half the squad in the first attack, good men and women, people I counted as brothers and sisters. We pulled back, took our wounded with us on the run, tried to get to the extraction point, no one was there to exfiltrate us. Classic fucked up situation. Anyway, what few of us were left who could, fought a last stand. My best friend was killed protecting my six, took a shot meant for me.”
He fell silent and Helaine did her best to hold him. Her heart was breaking for him.
“Finally a brave or stupid Sectors pilot said the hell with it and came in against orders and pulled us out, those of us left. Gabe Carter was his name, never knew anyone who could fly as well as he did. Heard he got cashiered out for disobeying orders, went mercenary. We were all injured, lost a couple on the flight to home base. I was pretty seriously fucked up, needed two sessions in the rejuve resonator. Then the brass said thanks, here’s your medal, this is all Top Secret and have a nice retirement.”
She gasped with outrage and he gave her a sardonic smile. “Military can be cold. If you can’t be a warfighter anymore, they don’t need you. And I wasn’t about to take a desk job behind the lines, not that they even offered me one. I guess Command figured out I was messed up in the head. Luckily the Ardannan royal family reached out, made me an offer to become one of their rangers—the royal parks are huge and mostly open to the public. The work suited me and the fact I could avoid people most of the time made it even better.”
“I don’t even know what to say, except I’m sorry for your losses and your suffering.” She rubbed his back and felt a bit of the tension seep out of his frame as she massaged the knots in his muscles.
He pulled her onto his lap, where she snuggled against his chest. “Like I said, since meeting you here I’ve been doing better, not having the flashbacks and the nightmares. Maybe even more importantly I’ve started thinking about a future again, instead of plodding through my daily existence, waiting to go to hell for my sins. Marriage, a family, a different job, something with a path—the royal family keep offering me management jobs and I’ve been saying no for five years.”
“Let’s do small steps,” she said. “I want all those things too, with you, but I think children should probably wait until we’re settled.”
“Fair enough. Unleashing my famptror brings perks and benefits as well. Ardanna honors those who carry the genes and who can shift.” He let out a gusty breath. “Yeah, a lot to look into once we get home.”
“We’ll do it together,” she said firmly. “I’m going to need a job too. Hey, the fire’s big enough for now, come back to what we’re laughingly calling bed tonight.” Taking his hand she drew him to his feet and they moved to the sleeping area.
“I wish we weren’t bedded down on hard, cold rock,” he said, cupping the curve of her derriere.
She felt his hardness rubbing against her and the needy ache in her core awoke again.
Suddenly he swung her on top of him as he reclined and she was sitting on his hard length, separated by all the layers of their clothing. Latham worked his fingers inside her shorts and her panties. “So wet for me—we can’t waste this. Damn I wish we had a mattress.”
Helaine bent over to kiss him and then busied herself opening his pants and freeing his cock, which she took between her lips and sucked, holding him firmly in her hand, or as much of his girth as she could span.
His hands fisted in her hair as he responded to her efforts. “I’m going to come if you don’t stop.”
For answer she redoubled her attention, managing to suppress her gag reflex to take him deep and when he did climax she swallowed. The act hadn’t appealed to her before but with Latham all things were new and different and she reveled in the power she had over this strong man who loved her.
“You’re exceptional,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything to equal the way your lips felt on me. Now let me take care of you, mate.” He slid his fingers into her folds, rubbing and teasing, paying attention to the hidden bundle of nerves as well, until she couldn’t resist the building sensations any longer. She’d never come so hard from manual stimulation or with her vibrator. It wasn’t as good as having Latham inside her but it was damn satisfying.
He helped her get dressed again and tucked himself away in his pants and they drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter Six
Helaine wasn’t ready to wake up but Latham shook her by the shoulder again. “Sweetheart, the cave is flooding—we gotta ago.”
“Is it another tsunami?” she said in horror, sitting bolt upright.
His laugh was loud, echoing off the cave walls. She heard water dripping and running with a ferocity she’d not noticed before. “I think the hills above must be porous,” he said. “A lot of the rainfall runoff seeped into the cave system. We need to go now—it’s already to the point where we’ll have to wade through about a foot of cold water to get out.”
