Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

By the time they met up with Rykker, Olivia’s new runes were itching even more than previously, as though her sudden burst of strength and speed had somehow made the pigment react even more with her existing ink. As a result, she was downright distracted when they strode up to the log on which Rykker was waiting for them.

He’d kept moving at a good clip, following the Raxxian trail while updating Arkness as to his coordinates. They were deep in the no-fly zone now, and calling in backup would only draw who knew what sort of unwanted attention to the area. Keeping their unit small and hidden was the best option they had.

“Rykker,” Arkness greeted with a haughty grin creasing his lips as if he knew something his rival didn’t.

“Arkness,” the man replied, likewise flashing a little hint of amusement as his eyes locked with Olivia’s, noting the flush to her cheeks with delight. “Olivia, I’m glad to see you.”

“You too,” she replied, a whiff of his smell hitting her like an olfactory fist across her overstimulated senses.

Oh, fuck , she nearly groaned as the scent made her nipples harden and her clit throb in an instant. Are you kidding me? When Arkness’s smell mixed with Rykker’s it only compounded the effect. More than that, the tattoo on her chest flared up hard, itching something fierce as well. She rubbed at the discomfort.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just this tattoo Nijello gave me is itching like hell today. Is that normal?”

“The Infala?” Rykker replied, a curious look in his eye.

“Yeah, that one.”

“May I see?”

“Sure,” she said, lifting her top enough to expose the changing design. “It’s not the way it was when it started. I know Nijello said it would eventually change, but this is really distracting.”

Rykker leaned in and studied the design. He knew his own Infala well, and while parts of her design were similar to his, it was not a match. His had been moving slowly of its own accord lately as well, but it was clearly not the same as hers. He glanced at Arkness. Amazingly, the confident look he always wore seemed diminished at the sight. Apparently, her Infala did not match his, either.

Rykker gently touched the rune, Olivia’s skin prickling with gooseflesh at his touch. “The activity in your pigments is unusual. And I see it is incorporating more and more with your existing decorative markings as well. Fascinating, and worth further study.”

“I can scan your runes when we are back at the ship,” Arkness interjected. “I have more medical experience than Rykker does.”

“Yes, but because I elected to focus on other sciences.”

“Still, that means I am best qualified to study her runes.”

Olivia shook her head, more than a little overwhelmed by the waves of masculine energy wafting off the two. “Fellas, please. My friend is in danger. There’s no time for this.”

Amazingly, the two heeded her words at once, as if an unspoken truce had been forged in the blink of an eye.

“She’s right,” Arkness admitted.

“Agreed. And we have trained for this day, have we not?”

“That we have.”

“Then let’s do this.”

The two men, rivals in all things, put their differences aside, their years upon years of teamwork and cooperation prior to Olivia’s arrival throwing a wrench in the works suddenly on full display. The pair spread out, each ready for action while Olivia followed at a distance as instructed. They needed her close enough to calm her friend when they found her, but far enough back to be safe.

As safe as anyone could be, given the circumstances.

They moved forward quickly and silently, flashing hand signs to one another, leapfrogging on the left and right sides as Olivia advanced up the middle. It was an impressive sight, the way the two men had slipped back into the efficiency of their shared training. It was like a backstage pass to some sort of covert ops commando performance, only this was real, and the participants were her lovers.

Lovers who didn’t know about her tryst with the other.

I’m going to need to do something about that , she unhappily admitted to herself. After we get back, though. Definitely after.

Rykker held up his fist, signaling a stop. He tapped his ear and pointed.

Olivia heard a sound. A voice. A woman in distress. “Is that… Harper!”

She bolted ahead, racing to help her friend. Rykker and Arkness shared a quick look and a shrug. It looked like their plan was out the window. It was go time.

They quickly caught up to Olivia just as she slid to a halt at the edge of a small clearing. Five Raxxians were there, two of them bandaged but the other three looking quite spry and healthy. Fortunately, they only had one rifle on them. The rest were only armed with their customary knives. This was a good thing as Arkness and Rykker had already discussed tactics and decided that any weapons fire at all might draw more of the enemy to them if they happened to be nearby. Whatever they did would have to be silent and fast.

A blade buried itself into the thick scales of the Raxxian holding the weapon, not killing him outright, but dropping him to his knees from the severity of the injury, his blood gushing from the wound far too fast to survive. The others reacted at once, drawing their knives and rushing to meet the charging men.

Olivia sprinted to where Harper had been unceremoniously dumped on the ground. Two of the Raxxians noticed her and moved to stop her, but Rykker put himself between them and the women, ready to rumble. Arkness was already deep in it, fighting fast and violently against the other two. Rykker launched into his attack as well, not seeming to care that this was an outnumbered situation.

“Harper, it’s me,” Olivia reassured her friend, pulling off her gag and blindfold.

“Olivia? Where were you? You said you’d be back.”

“I had a run-in. Got captured by some locals.”

“Locals?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding toward the men fluidly battling the Raxxians. “These guys took care of me. And now they’re going to rescue you too.”

Harper watched in awe as the two muscular, red-skinned men absolutely dismantled the Raxxian guards in a way she wouldn’t have thought possible. Raxxians were tough. Durable. And they had no fear. And yet, somehow, these two were utterly kicking their asses.

“Impressive. You did say they’re on your side, right?” Harper asked.

“Yep. And that’s a good thing. These five didn’t stand a?—”

“Did you say five ? Olivia! Look out!” Harper blurted as the sixth Raxxian emerged from the trees.

He assessed the situation in an instant, dropped the dead animal he had killed, and raced right toward the women, intent on keeping the prize while the others fought.

Olivia lunged forward on instinct, driven by anger, fear, and a protective mama bear instinct toward her friend. She should have realized she stood no chance against the much larger creature, but in the moment only one thing flowed through her mind and body alike. The will to fight.

“Get away from her!” she yelled, driving her fist hard into the Raxxian’s chest.

He didn’t even try to block her. He recognized this one. A small female from the ship’s livestock. Nothing to worry about from her. Or so he thought.

His ribs snapped violently as his body flew backward, his feet sliding out from under him. The force of the impact was so great even Arkness and Rykker briefly spun to look, shock and amazement on their faces.

The Raxxian shook off the blow, painfully forcing himself back to his feet. Olivia had surprised him. He would not make the same mistake again. He charged her once more, intent on ending this one’s life once and for all.

The flurry of fists and knives from the two men came from nowhere, laying him out and ending his effort, as well as his life, in a bloody flash. Arkness and Rykker nodded to one another then returned to the other adversaries, making sure they were as dead as they seemed. Finally, satisfied with their handiwork, they sheathed their knives and walked back to the two women.

“You must be Harper,” Arkness said with a little bow. “I am called Arkness. And he is Rykker. I am sorry to meet under these circumstances.”

“You just saved my ass, so I’d say the circumstances are just fine.”

“Are you hurt?” Rykker inquired. “I see your leg is splinted.”

“Olivia did that when we crashed. Damn thing is broken. But otherwise I’m okay, thanks to you. And you, Olivia. Thank you.”

She crouched beside her friend, pressing her forehead against hers. “I swore I’d be back. I just got delayed, is all.”

“Better late than never.”

“Yeah, but good thing we got here when we did. Any later and who knows where the Raxxians would have taken you.”

Harper’s expression hardened. “I heard them talking about other livestock they need to recapture in other nearby crash sites. It sounded like there were more of them lurking around out there.”

“Recapture parties,” Rykker noted. “Standard protocol for Raxxians in this sort of situation.”

Olivia and Harper shared a look. “We have to help the others,” Olivia said with her jaw set with determination.

Rykker nodded. “We will do what we can. But first we need to move. It is not safe here.”

“Agreed. And we need to get this woman medical care,” Arkness added.

Olivia helped Harper to her feet. She took a step, trying to rest her weight against her human friend, but her leg couldn’t support her. She cried out and fell to the side, barely caught by Arkness’s strong arms. He hoisted her up in them easily enough with a haughty grin, instinctively showing off his prowess and strength. He looked at the others and immediately realized his mistake.

His own braggadocio had sealed his fate in this regard. He was the pilot, for one. And he had been bragging about his superior medical training on top of that, all of which made him the de facto extraction person.

Rykker started pulling weapons and anything else that might wind up being used against them from the dead Raxxian bodies. “I’ll hide them as best I can.”

“I’ll help,” Olivia offered, thinking this would be the opportunity to tell Rykker about what happened the other night. She just hoped he would take it well.

“But—” Arkness began to protest.

“It’s okay,” she cut him off. “Go. Get her to the ship safely and tend to her wounds. I’ll see you soon.”

The warm look in her eye put his troubled mind at ease, at least a little. “As you wish,” he said, then, with Harper in his arms, turned and strode off into the woods. She turned and noted the jealous look in Rykker’s eyes and the flare in his nostrils. Had he sensed what was up?

“We should be quick,” Rykker said, cutting her off before she could broach the subject.

He began hauling bodies, the bloody evidence of his work quickly vanishing off into the brush. Olivia did what she could to help, offering aid but otherwise staying silent. This was not the time, she realized. She’d just give it a rest until they had a better moment to discuss the confusing situation. It wasn’t what she wanted by any stretch, and her attraction to Rykker was as intense as it was for Arkness. But she had to be upfront with him, didn’t she? It was the only fair thing to do. For all their sakes.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” he asked as they dumped the last body into a shallow grave he dug out of the softer ground off in the underbrush.

“Kickboxing class. A little Muay Thai when I was younger. And some BJJ in college.”

He looked at her like a confused puppy, head cocked to the side. This massive, sexy man stared at her in a way that made her heart go thump-thump, and the smell wafting off him wasn’t helping any.

“Did you just make up those words? They do not translate.”

“No, really, they’re real things.”

“Oh?” he shot back, but not frustrated or angry, but rather with a sexy little grin creasing his full lips.

“Yeah, really. I’ll show you later.”

She somehow felt his cock stir hard in his trousers even before she saw it, as if her body knew what it wanted, the rational thoughts she tried to hold on to be damned. But she had just been feeling this same kind of connection with Arkness only this morning, though, to be fair, that was after her tryst with Rykker.

What is this? she lamented. I’m so damn confused. And aroused. Fuck! What am I supposed to do?

She didn’t know, for sure. But one thing was clear. She would hold off on having that talk with him. For now at least. Once whatever this was settled down, then she would be able to articulate the situation clearly.

“Come on,” he said, looking up at the sky. “We need to get moving before dark sets in.”

Olivia followed him into the woods, her mind racing and her body all sorts of discombobulated. Soon she would figure this out. But for now they would trek.