“We don’t have much time. I hate to do this to you, but I can’t have my sister in danger.”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
“If things were different—” Rave stopped when Rock caressed his face.
“He’s back, isn’t he? The man who broke your heart.”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“You’re different. Happier than the last time I saw you. I’ve never seen you this way unless you’re talking about your man.” Rock gave him a sad smile. “He’d better be good to you.”
“Thank you.” Rave squeezed the man’s hand and turned to see Se staring at them. He gave her a wink. “Se, could you call my sister to the bridge? We’ll get her boarded then head out.”
“She’s on her way. I paged her when Rock showed up.” This time he really looked at Se. She blushed and stumbled over Rock’s name. He didn’t have time to say anything because his sister came on deck. Se deserved some of her own happiness. Maybe Rock could help her out with that.
“Ready to go, sis?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and he hugged her to him.
“I’ll be back as soon as everything is cleared up. I’m sorry about this,” he said.
“It isn’t your fault. Stay safe.”
He nodded, went back to Rock and held out a hand. “Thanks, man.” Rave tugged him into his body and hit his back while whispering in his ear. “Don’t be a stranger and maybe you should talk to Se.” He pulled back and grinned at the man as he looked over at Se.
With a nod, Rock left, Mel close on his heels.
“What was all that tough guy man-hugging about?”
He didn’t answer Se’s question.
“After they’ve left, engage the autopilot for Seid II. I’ll be in my quarters. I’m not sure what we’ll find when we get there. We’d better all be prepared. Kain is following a lead on the warrant right now.”
“Don’t think you can ignore me, Rave. I’ll plot the course, but before you go, what was going on with Rock?”
“I offered him a little advice. That’s all.”
Se didn’t look convinced but continued working at the computer.
“You can go back to your quarters if you want. I’ll take over,” he offered.
“No, I got this. Go see if Kain’s found anything else.”
Rave left her to it. He hoped Kain had found out something about the person who’d jumped the gun on the warrant. Rave thought he should know that name, but nothing came to him. He shrugged and headed to his room where his lover waited.
Chapter Nine
Seth paced in his quarters. Things weren’t going as planned. The
Retribution
had slipped through his fingers on New Moon. The stupid planet guards had fucked that up. Kain and Rave would be on the defensive now.
The calls from both the Royalists and Alliance kept coming through, but he’d managed to dodge them so far. He pawned the Alliance off on a subordinate and ignored the Royalists. They shouldn’t be contacting him anyway, no matter how secure they thought the message. Didn’t they know Peters didn’t want any contact until
after
the mission was complete?
He didn’t relish the wait on Seid II. His crew had docked yesterday, and he’d given them shore leave. Seth had to play his cards right, or he’d be the dead one. What would happen when Earth exploded? Fritz had no idea the Royalists already had the weapon. Seth almost wished he would be around to see it. The laser waited for the push of a button, resting comfortably in a hidden cave on the planet. He’d put it there himself weeks ago.
The com beeped, but he ignored it again. There wasn’t anyone he wanted to talk to right now. He had plans to make. If he couldn’t capture the men alive, he would blow the
Retribution
right out of the universe. He would have his justice before retiring. The beeping sounded again followed by the computer.
“Commander, you have an urgent message.”
“Store the message. I’ll contact them later.”
“Message stored.”
The computer turned off, leaving Seth to his thoughts until a ring sounded at his door.
What now?
“Enter.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but the planet guard wished to have a word with you.”
“I thought you were on shore leave, Ensign.”
“The guard cornered me in a local bar, or I’d still be there.”
“Carry on. I’ll take care of the guard.”
He watched the Ensign leave and asked the computer to relay the message.
“Message to follow—Seth, contact home base immediately or your ship will be called off mission. You are not following orders, and I will not have it. Message finished, signed General Commander Fritz.”
He couldn’t contact Fritz. Too much needed to happen first.
“Computer, send a message to General Commander Fritz letting him know I am out of range.”
“Message confirmed.”
Now, he had to deal with the incompetence of the planet guard. They were all alike, barely trained with a gun. He stormed off the ship to deal with this new problem. The only thing he wanted to do was sleep until the
Retribution
docked and he had Rave and Kain right where he wanted them.
* * * *
Kain couldn’t believe what the computer showed him. Seth Davidson had gone through cadet training with him and Rave. No wonder the name rang a bell. He still didn’t remember the guy. Maybe Rave would know him.
The man looked like a decorated officer, but that didn’t explain why he’d jumped the gun on the warrant. Fritz didn’t have any answers, either. Kain wondered if he should contact the office again. He should talk to Rave first. He wanted everything in the open between them.
He looked over his shoulder when the door to Rave’s room swooshed open.
“You have anything?”
Rave never wasted time. That hadn’t changed.
“I found Seth Davidson. He graduated with us. Computer, display photo of Seth Davidson.”
Seconds later, the photo appeared. Rave got close and studied it, but Kain didn’t see a spark of recognition. Maybe Rave didn’t remember the guy, either.
“I remember him now.”
“You do?” Maybe he couldn’t read his lover the way he used to. Kain planned on fixing that.
“Yeah, there was a big to-do about him. Don’t you remember?”
“No, refresh my memory.”
“Seth asked me out a few times during training, and I turned him down. I was only interested in one man, and that was you. I don’t know if I told you about Seth or not. I probably didn’t. I was too full of myself and you. Hell, I couldn’t even remember his name, but I recognise his face. The blow-up happened months after. The three of us were assigned to the same ship. Seth lost control of a pod, causing millions in damages. The Alliance sent him back to training because it also took out communications on a small planet.”
“Now I remember. It was
this
guy?”
“The one and only. Do you think that’s why he jumped the warrant?”
“After all these years? I wouldn’t think so, but who really knows?”
“Fritz had no clue?”
“Not that I know of. I should contact him again. He said he would get with Davidson to find out what happened. Is your sister off-ship?”
“For now. We’re plotted in for Seid II. It should be a few hours. Then this can be over, and life can get back on track.”
Kain went to Rave and wrapped his arms around him. “What about you and me?”
Rave leaned into him. “I’m not sure.”
Not what Kain wanted to hear.
“What can I do to convince you there is an ‘us’?”
“There isn’t anything you
can
do. I have to trust you again. That will take time. I’m willing to give us the time we need. Are you?”
“Time is all I have. I’ve already resigned my commission on completion of this mission. You should do the same.”
“They really did it, didn’t they?”
“Yep, they fucked us both and not in the happy go lucky way.”
“I was a dedicated officer. I would have done anything for them. How could they do this to me? To you?”
“We’re collateral damage. The Alliance only care about the good of the Alliance and will do what they feel they have to. Damn the cost.”
“What about the Royalists? What do they have to gain?”
“If they blow up that planet, they will show the universe the Alliance is losing strength. It will give them an in with people and allow them to slowly overthrow the current administration.”
“I’m having a hard time picking a bad guy in this situation.”
“Me, too. That’s why I want to get lost in the universe and away from their influence.”
“We can’t just hand over a planet killer to anyone. We have to destroy it.”
“If we do that, the Alliance will kill us.”
“Not if we have proof of what they did to us. If we go public with that, the Royalists will have more ammo against them.”
“We don’t have proof. Not really. Only our word.”
“There has to be a way to get what we need. Someone we can talk to.”
“It won’t be Fritz. I think he might have been behind the whole thing.”
“Is there someone over Fritz we could talk to?”
“He has the ear of the panel. We could feel them out and see if they knew of your fake court-martial. There must be paper on that somewhere. I wish there was something my dad could do, but I haven’t been in contact with him since everything went down. I was kept out of contact from everyone. ”
Kain didn’t want to talk any more. He wanted to play. Rave’s neck looked good, and the man smelled heavenly. A small taste wouldn’t hurt. He licked the spot where Rave’s neck connected with his shoulder, nibbled a little then scraped his teeth over the spot.
“I take it we’re done talking?” Rave managed to get out.
“We have time to talk, but two years to make up for. I missed this. I missed you.”
“I went through hell, Kain. All I wanted was you. I didn’t understand.”
“Let me make it up to you.”
Rave turned in Kain’s arms and took his mouth like a starving man. Kain liked Rave’s new take-charge attitude.
“I want your ass. I need inside you,” Rave groaned.
Kain moaned. In all their years together, Rave had never wanted to possess him in that way. He shivered in excitement, but wondered at the change.
“It’s yours. I-I’ve never—”
“Shh…I’ll take it slow.”
Kain let Rave lead him. His cock throbbed as he hit the bed. He scrambled back, losing his clothes as he went. Kain licked his lips, hungry for Rave.
Chapter Ten
Rave paused by the bed to watch Kain take his own dick in hand. He almost lost it when the man’s tongue peeked out. The pull to make Kain his again nearly overwhelmed him. He had to get himself under control.
“Why are you still standing there? Second thoughts?” Kain sounded unsure of himself.
Rave shook his head, shucked his clothes and joined Kain on the bed.
“I think the time for second thoughts is over. I’m willing to be in this if you are, but you have to trust me. Hell, we have to trust each other, and not let the Alliance interfere again.” Rave crawled between Kain’s legs and pushed away the hands on the man’s cock, replacing them with his lips.
“Shit!”
Rave grinned around the dick filling his mouth. He’d taken Kain so deep the crisp hairs surrounding his treasure tickled Rave’s nose. He slowly released Kain, taking a moment to swirl his tongue around the head of Kain’s cock. He was done with foreplay no matter how good the man tasted. Rave craved the fullness of Kain in his ass, but he didn’t want to panic. He’d tried to have sex that way since DI, but he couldn’t. He hoped with Kain, things would be different, but Rave didn’t know if he’d ever be able to handle someone fucking him again. For now, he would take Kain’s ass and make it his.
“Lube,” he demanded and gestured towards the table.
Kain wiggled on his stomach until he could reach the nightstand. Rave’s cock stood at attention. Those perfect globes presented a temptation he couldn’t resist, and he sank his teeth in. He laved away the sting, leaning back to slap Kain on the other cheek.
Needing more, he spread Kain’s ass to reveal the hole he wanted in. He leaned over and licked. Kain pushed back. Rave moaned as his tongue slipped in. It wasn’t enough. He held out his hand for the lube. When he got no response, he slapped Kain’s ass again to get the man’s attention.
Kain dropped the lube into his hand.
Rave opened the bottle and poured the liquid into his palm before dribbling some down his lover’s ass. Tossing the bottle to the bed, he rubbed his finger into Kain’s puckered opening.
“So tight,” he whispered before adding a second finger. He twisted his fingers, trying to find that spot that would drive Kain crazy. He was rewarded with a moan when he found the gland. He added a third finger, plunging them in and out. Kain rocked back.
“Good. Fuck, so good. More,” Kain groaned.
“Get on your hands and knees. It’ll be easier,” Rave said as his fingers slipped free.
He settled back to watch Kain get in position and slicked his cock with the residual lube on his palms. Rave paused when Kain looked over his shoulder and winked at him. That ass was his.
Rave braced his hand on the small of Kain’s back and inched his way in. He breached the first ring of muscles and stopped.
“You okay?”
“Don’t stop,” Kain panted.
Rave pushed the rest of the way in and paused, waiting for Kain to let him know it was okay to move.
“Full. God.” Kain rested his head on his arms and wiggled.
Rave pulled out until only the head of his dick remained inside then he slammed home, hitting Kain’s sweet spot. When Kain shivered, power surged through him. Again and again he hit his lover’s gland.
“Close, babe.” Rave couldn’t have put together a coherent sentence if he’d wanted to. The sweet sensation of Kain milking his cock drove him to rock-hard.
“Yes. Fast…hard…gonna.”
Kain’s climax triggered his. The tight squeeze almost painful.
“
Kain!
”
He collapsed on Kain’s back, trying to catch his breath. Kain seemed to be having the same trouble. Rave wrapped his arms tight around Kain’s middle and gave a slight squeeze before he rolled over. He threw an arm over his eyes, still panting heavily. He moved his arm when something tickled it. He looked over to see Kain grinning at him. He couldn’t help it, he smiled back.