They moved together in the dark, straining toward completion. He watched her face, watched as her expression tightened from slack excitement to tense anticipation. She was right on the edge, her body straining for release, his holding back.
Until finally, she gasped and shook, her sheath clamping on him as she came. Her eyes shot open and stared straight into his, the connection flicking his switch with precision.
He pumped into her, flooding her with his seed, with his very soul.
As if she couldn’t take it, she slumped against him as she shivered in reaction, her sex still clamped around him, his cock still twitching.
With his arms tight around her, he locked her to him.
And only after several minutes did he start to think that they were missing a piece of the equation.
And that they may never actually have it.
Chapter Three
At least an hour later, Duke heard the whisper of movement and voices from the other rooms.
The snick of a door opening made him look over his shoulder to see Kyle leave the bedroom, a pair of battered jeans his only clothing.
Kyle headed straight for the couch but his footsteps slowed as he caught sight of Duke and Tira, covered with the blanket but obviously naked and wrapped around each other beneath.
When their gazes connected, Kyle’s brows lifted in a silent question. Duke didn’t have an answer for the man who’d become more than his commanding officer in the past few months. He’d become a friend, something Duke didn’t have a lot of.
Besides Nic and now Kaine, Duke couldn’t think of anyone else who fit that title.
Not even Tira had fit into that category. Hell, he’d need a fucking thesaurus to figure out a title for her. Especially now.
Kyle held up his hand, his fingers spread. Five minutes. Then he disappeared into the bathroom.
Duke took a deep breath, the scents of sex and heat and Tira filling his head, making scenes from the past hours race through his head.
He didn’t regret the sex. He’d never regret the sex, no matter what happened later. But the consequences… Yeah, those were gonna be a bitch.
Reluctantly, he set Tira’s warm body on the cushion next to his, forcing down the urge to pick her up and run. The erection he’d been sporting since she’d fallen asleep deflated as the cool air hit it when he stood.
Running a hand over her bright hair, he was tucking the blanket securely around her when Kyle came back into the room holding a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt that he handed to Duke.
A few seconds later, dressed and feeling the walls closing in around him, Duke walked back to the kitchen where Kyle quietly prepped the coffeemaker.
“How’s Nic?” he asked.
Kyle leaned back against the counter as the coffeemaker gurgled and popped. “Tam’s checking him out now. Seems to be healing well. Even faster than Tam and the doctor thought he would.”
“And Kaine?”
“Groggy but back in her skin. Somehow, she got into the eteri’s room last night and slept there. He’s still pretty out of it. Tam’s going to check on him next, see if he’s got any major damage. She didn’t find any last night but…you never know with eteri.”
“You think he’s like Tam? That he’s got a trace of the blood in him and that’s why this woman was holding him?”
Kyle shook his head. “There’s no scent at all. Is there anything you can tell me about the place you found him?”
“Yeah. It was meant to hold a whole lot more.”
Duke told Kyle about the warren of cells beneath the house as Kyle’s expression got darker.
“And you didn’t see one gods damn thing in the whole house that could help us identify who was holding him?”
“Nothing. It was clean. Hell, I didn’t even catch a scent of anyone other than the eteri.”
“Vaffanculo, that’s just fucking great.” Kyle shoved a hand through his hair. “Back to square one.”
“Maybe not. Maybe we’ll be able to get something out of the eteri. Maybe he saw something. Maybe they didn’t have time to wipe him clean. Maybe she thought the house coming down would take him out of the picture.”
Kyle snorted as he poured coffee. “And maybe pigs’ll fly. Whoever this ‘she’ is, she’s been careful up to this point. She’s not gonna screw up that badly now.”
“You’re in a foul mood this morning.”
Kyle’s eyebrows quirked upward. “And you’re not?”
True.
Duke knew Kyle was giving him an opening. To talk. Something Duke didn’t do. He didn’t spill his guts. His mother had taught him that nothing good ever came of spilling your guts. Talking about your problems only meant laying them at someone else’s feet and that only created more problems.
Hell, he didn’t even talk to Nic. Mostly because Nic knew him better than anyone and could practically read his mind so he didn’t have to talk.
Kyle was his commanding officer but that didn’t mean he had to tell the guy his personal shit. And Tira was as personal as it got.
“I’m feeling fine so I should head back to the house, see if I can dig anything out of the rubble. Anything I missed the first time through.”
Behind him, Tira shifted on the couch. Before he could stop himself, he’d turned to find her stretching her arms above her head. The blanket fell to the floor as she stood, completely naked and so fucking beautiful, his chest ached with it.
And when she bent to pick up the blanket, her perfect ass nearly made him groan.
She turned as she wrapped the blanket around her, though he knew she wasn’t covering her nudity so much as she was chilly. Nudity wasn’t shameful in their community.
But holy hell, he didn’t want her wandering around naked all morning or he’d never be able to get up from the chair because of his hard-on.
She looked him straight in the eyes and her sweet half-smile nearly made him fall at her feet in abject worship. But by the time she’d crossed the room to stand next to him, he saw the shadows in her eyes and the effort it took for her to keep that smile in place.
He wanted to wrap his arms around her shoulders and press his lips to hers but he had no clue what her expression meant.
Did she regret having sex with him? Was she embarrassed? What the hell should he do?
Uni’s ass, this was fucked up.
Nic would know exactly what to do to wipe that look off her face. But Nic was still unconscious in the other room.
And Duke had fucked the woman his best friend loved more than anything in the world. The one woman Nic couldn’t touch.
“Tira, you want some coffee, hon?”
Kyle broke the silence and Duke sucked in a deep breath, his lungs starving for fresh air.
Tira blinked and forced a smile for Kyle. “Thanks, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a quick shower and see Nic before I go home to check on my mom. I’m sure she’s wondering what happened to me.”
Shit, he’d forgotten all about her mom. He’d heard Suvera hadn’t been doing well the past few months. Which probably meant Tira had been hiding just how bad her mom truly was.
“I’ll run you home as soon as you’re ready,” Duke said before looking at Kyle. “Then I’ll do that other thing.”
“By that I guess you mean go back to the house you were at yesterday?” Tira lifted her eyebrows at him. “Where you all almost died. Do you think that’s smart? To go back by yourself?”
He opened his mouth and closed it again before he said something stupid. “It’s reconnaissance. And it’s my job.”
Her eyes widened even more. “And what exactly is it you do?”