Page 9 of Stone Awakened

In response, I felt her rake her blunt little fingernails up the back of my head. Maybe she understood just how insensitive my skin was, maybe in the heat of the moment she just happened to use the right pressure, but I felt it down to my bones, a deep languid pleasure. I needed more of that, I wanted it.

When I hiked her higher in my arms so that I could nibble on the curve where her shoulder and neck met, Aggy curled her legs around my waist. What I didn’t expect was the intense heat she radiated, her thin pants no barrier as her center pressed against my lower belly. A groan rumbled from my chest, my cock rising beneath my loincloth so eagerly that it pressed against the soft curve of her rounded bottom.

“Yes,” she moaned, tilting her head to give me more access, “That feels so good.” She was holding on to my shoulders, pressing her core against my abs, and shamelessly rubbing herself against me. I loved it. I wanted to press her down into her bed, rip these flimsy clothes from her body, and bury myself in her welcoming heat.

From the way she was clinging to me, I could tell she was fully on board with that plan. Opening my wings so I could locate the bed, I started forward. Only to pause in my tracks when a soft tapping sounded through the wall. What was that? It was so out of place that alarm bells went off in my head. A creature in the pipes? A guard approaching outside?

“What is it?” Aggy asked, confusion coloring her voice. She lifted her head away from my neck to tilt it side to side, listening. Suddenly she was all business, pulling away from me, forcing me to put her down on her feet. She yanked a sweater from a nearby chair and pulled her head through it, coming out of the head hole with a tousled head of hair she paid no attention to; she even left her long hair tucked into the sweater when she rushed for the door.

“What’s going on? Aggy, what is happening?” I asked her as I let my hands fall to my belt, checking that my weapons were all there. My body was unhappy with the rapid context switch, but her clear alarm took care of any amorous thoughts. This was urgent.

“The boys, they’re calling for me,” Aggy responded just as she pressed her hand to the door panel. “Amar probably had a nightmare.” She ducked her head out, checked left and right, and dashed out. I was left staring after her disappearing form, a nightmare? I followed after her at a slower pace, checking the hallway to make sure it was deserted as she had, but much more thoroughly.

The human had already unlocked the big empty bunk room the two boys shared and gone in. She’d left the door open for me, or maybe she just hadn’t taken the time to close it. Her concern for the kids was heartwarming, and the fact that she’d worked out a system through which they could reach her at night, was clever.

Eager for the chance to see my son again today, I followed her inside. Surreptitiously adjusting myself so I was fully decent again, the last thing I wanted was for Jett and Amar to suspect what I was up to with their caretaker.

My eyes had to adjust to the darkness in the room and I had to fold my wings in tightly against my back to navigate the maze of bunk beds. In a corner in the back, where the two boys had curled up in a bed together, Aggy was perched on the edge. I could see the bright blue hair that topped the young boy’s head tucked beneath her chin. She was humming a soft melody and swaying the little one back and forth, while Jett clung to one of her hands, holding the young one’s hand with the other.

My brave little boy was shifted into his battle-form, his wings spread out to offer a barrier of protection. My chest flushed with pride, and pain at what these two were going through, I wished so badly that I could make all of this better. I understood Aggy’s desire to try and escape now when you saw the fallout, the nightmares the little one had, the maturity Jett had to show…

Jett spotted me and made an eager motion my way, he wanted to drop what he was doing and leap into my arms. Except, he felt like Amar needed him so he settled down instead, holding onto that little blue hand. I crouched next to the bed, trying to make sure that Amar didn’t startle when he noticed me. The little one wasn’t crying, he was completely quiet as he held on for dear life. That made it all the more poignant.

When I shifted my wings to cocoon all of us in a little safe haven, Jett shivered back into his peace-form. He threw out an arm to curl it around my neck, “Dad, you’re here too!” I was, and I vowed I wouldn’t miss a single moment like this again. I needed to work harder to get hold of those landing codes, Aggy and I didn’t have time to fool around.

The boy fell asleep curled up against Aggy’s chest, his hands going lax. I helped to lay him back down in the bed, his body limp now that he’d fallen into a deep sleep again. I gave Jett a last, big hug, murmuring how proud I was of him. Then we tucked both boys in beneath their blankets and left. It had felt difficult to leave earlier that evening when we’d first put them to bed, now it felt nearly impossible.

Standing out in the hallway, Aggy was slow but methodical as she locked the room again. She turned to me with a soft smile, “It happens sometimes. After seeing Carator today it was bound to happen.” She shrugged, “They’ll be okay.” Reaching for my hand, she took it and started leading me back to her room, “Now, where were we?”

Heat scorched my system at the blatant invitation, at her boldness. I wanted to take her up on that offer, but I reminded myself again that I was here for something much more important. I had lapsed in my discipline by coming here tonight, thinking only of finding pleasure with sexy Aggy. This little episode with Amar, with Jett, had driven home the work I had to do, I couldn’t spend time on frivolous things.

“No, I need to go,” I said to her, gently extracting my hand from her warm grip, I pointed at the bunk room. “I can’t allow myself to get distracted from the real goal.” Her face shuttered, her bright expression closing down. She yanked her hands away from me and pressed them to her chest, finally she noticed how her long hair was trapped beneath her sweater and started angrily fussing with it.

“Fine, I won’t distract you then,” she huffed, her dark brown eyes narrowed in a glare. She flounced away, her door swishing shut behind her. It was my imagination of course, as the door always made the exact same sound, but it sounded recriminating to my ears. I felt like a heel, I hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, if anything, I still deeply desired her. This just wasn’t the time or the place. Though truth be told, she was impulsive, while I liked to think things through, and prepare. We would never work anyway.

Feeling angry and helpless about the entire situation, I spun away and strode into the courtyard. Taking flight, the cool breeze, and the brush of the clouds would have to clear my head, and the rigorous exercise would have to help me sleep tonight. My body was still humming with need.

My frustration made it easy to ignore the twinges between my shoulder blades and the aching, rough feeling along my chest. I’d go to Luka after this mission, and I’d confess all my damn health issues to the Doc. Now was just really not the time.

Chapter 7

Agatha

With my back to the door, I drew in a deep, shaky breath. What had just happened? I thought he was on board? Had I misread the situation? That would be so typical of me, thinking a guy was into me and then just… Nothing. I was forever the girl of no second dates. Not that this counted as a date much. He’d just barged in here and suddenly we’d been making out.

Huh, it was hard to misread a situation like that. Why had he withdrawn then? Just because he thought it was a distraction he couldn’t use right now? Or had he changed his mind when he realized what a terrible kisser I was or something? Admittedly, kissing around those tusks of his had taken a moment to figure out.

Remembering what it had felt like to suddenly be wrapped up in those strong arms made me shiver. Then there were the wings, I had never felt so sheltered, so safe before. He’d used those leathery membranes to block out the outside world, both when in the heat of the moment and protectively when comforting the boys. Each time had been a turn-on, apparently, the big protective type was totally my thing. Even if he was really bossy and a stickler for the rules.

The moment with Amar had driven home again just how urgently we needed to get out of here, and I still had no clue what the plan even was. Instead of talking about it, we’d been too busy kissing… Oh, I guess Sunder did have a point there.

I tossed and turned for the rest of the night, struggling to get enough rest to face the next day. My mind just kept spinning, what was going to happen now that there was a new boss here? How were we going to get the kids out of here? Would the new guy try to sell them? Get rid of them? Had that shark really meant it when he said he wanted dinner? What about Sunder and me? Was he ever going to kiss me again?

I was a wrung-out mess by the time I’d washed, dressed, and struggled through some of the delivered breakfast. Giving up on it, I stuffed the remaining bread and fruit in my pockets and headed for the kids. They were never given breakfast, not until they’d done the first two hours of exercise. They were growing boys though, so they’d eagerly devour what I offered them. Unlike some of the picky eaters in my classroom back on Earth, these two would literally eat anything. I tried not to think about why that was.

Amar didn’t even remember that he’d had a nightmare so that was good, and both boys were rearing to go. They had plenty of energy despite an interrupted night, unlike me. We stepped into the courtyard and immediately noticed that it was empty. There was no sign of Uron, and Sunder hadn’t yet arrived either.

The sun was just shining over the edge of the pale sandstone walls, the sky pink behind it. Sunder came winging over that wall in an aerial display of acrobatics, his body spinning as he danced through the sky on powerful wing beats. When he saw us, he made a second loop, twirling in a tight loop before landing in a crouch in front of us. Dust kicked up from the cobbled ground, wind from his powerful wings batting our hair around.