Prime Commander (Katieran Prime Series) (16 page)

“What …?” Jaxon asked slightly disoriented. This was the second time since they landed on the Luna that he left her hanging.

Kyd turned around. He placed himself between her and the trees. “I heard a noise.” He whispered. He motioned for her to remain quiet.

She tried to slow down her rapid breathing. Jaxon observed the surrounding trees. Her gut told her something was out there, but she couldn’t see or hear anything. She wished she had the keen senses of the Katierans. She also wished she had a gun. A furry creature about the size of a pig ran out of the trees. It caught sight of them, stopped, growled, then turned and ran back into the trees.

“It’s just a grunt.” Kyd physically relaxes. He turns back to face Jaxon. Damn it! For the second time today he is distracted by desire for his female and does not ensure security measures. “Come, we need to take cover before nightfall.” He walks off towards the base of the mountain.

Was he pissed at her? What did she do this time? The man suffered from a split personality or something. One minute he was hot and all over her. The next, he can’t seem to get away from her fast enough. She sighed. She bent and picked up the remaining berries putting them in her coat pocket. They might get hungry later. She followed Kyd through the trees to the wall of the mountain.

He glanced upward at the high distance to the opening of the cave and back at Jaxon. He was concerned whether Jaxon could climb that high. He could try to carry her, but he wasn’t sure he would be able to fully concentrate long enough to get them there safely. She was too distracting.

Jaxon saw him glance at her questioningly. “What?”

“Are you sure that you can manage the climb? It’s quite high.” He asks with concern.

Jaxon gazes up at the cave and scans the nooks and leverages she could use to climb. “Please, that’s not high at all. I have been free soloing for years.”

“Free soloing?” He asked.

“It means to climb mountains like this without using safety equipment.” She walks past him and starts her ascent.

“Is this how the EWG trains their military?” He asks her as he begins climbing up behind her.

Jaxon laughed. “No. I did this for fun.”

Kyd stopped climbing to glance up at Jaxon’s delectable ass above him. “You climbed mountains for fun?”

“When I was fifteen years old I was dared to climb a rock wall. I did and found that I loved it. After that, I climbed everything and anything.”

“At fifteen years of age? Where were your parents?”

“I didn’t have parents. I had foster parents who could care less what I did as long as they got their money from the government.” Jaxon said bitterly.

He didn’t like these foster parents that she had. He hated that there was no one to care for her while growing up.  He got to the ledge and pulled himself up. He sat there and stared into her beautiful light brown eyes. “Was your whole experience as a young miserable?”

Jaxon stood up and turned her back on him. She shrugged. “It wasn’t too bad. Others had it a lot worse than me. It got better after Cassie moved in next door.”

“Why did you join the military?” He was right behind her.

“I needed a place to hang until Cassie graduated High School and we could become roommates.” She told him as she made her way into the cave.

That was not what he expected. “You stayed in the military though?”

She laughed again. “Yeah, I did. The military was a good fit for me. They gave me purpose. For once, I was wanted, needed for my skills, and my willingness to take on any challenge. And when it came to being a fighter pilot, no one was better than me.”

“So, the military became a sort of family to you?” He asked.

“I guess, in a way. The only family that matters most to me is Cassie and her girls.” She is surprised to see a pile of wood stacked neatly in the corner.

So much about her made sense to him now. She considered the Earth military a substitute family, so her loyalty to them would be strong. He wanted to remain angry with her, but he found that to be difficult. He noticed Jaxon eyeing the wood in the corner.

He explained, “I collected it earlier and brought it up before I came back for you. I knew we would need it at nightfall, the caves on the Lunas will get cold.”

“Oh.” Jaxon scooped up a handful of wood to pile in the center of the cave. She reached into her left boot and pulled out a switchblade/lighter. She lit the fire and sat down close enough to the wall of the cave to lean against it with her back.

“Why did you do it?” Kyd asked as he sat down across from her on the other side of the fire. He watched her expression through the flames of the firelight..

She was exhausted, dirty, and still hungry.
Now
he wanted to talk? Jaxon sighed. “I agreed when I was back on Earth because … I never turned down a mission.” She shifted on her bottom to get more comfortable. Kyd watched her like a hawk. “That was why I initially accepted. I sent a few pictures from the transport ship, but I did not send anything else to the EWG. They hounded  me since the first transmission, but, I just couldn’t …” She wrapped her arms around herself protectively.

Kyd sensed that she was telling him the truth. “Why didn’t you send the last transmission?” She seemed so small and alone on the other side. His protective instincts were starting to rear its ugly head.

She doesn’t turn his way, but, lays down on her side. “I’m tired.” That’s all she says before she collapses into an exhaustive sleep.

Kyd gets up and goes to the other side of the fire. He lays down beside his female, taking her into his arms. She snuggles closer to him unconsciously. He presses his nose against her neck and inhales her warm spicy scent.

“Mine.”

Chapter 13

Jaxon had the best dream ever. A large, warm male body surrounded her. He smelled so good. And the man’s hands squeezed her breasts. She moaned as she rubbed herself against the dream body. “More.” She whispered.

“I would love to give you more. However, I think we need to relieve and clean ourselves first, but afterwards …
ouch
.” Kyd rubs his nose which Jaxon smashes with her elbow as she squirms to get herself free of his embrace. “I feel like we’ve done this before.”

She scrambled to get up and move away from him. The man played havoc on her body and soul. She learned her lesson. He made it clear that he didn’t want anything more. Well, fine. Message received. She made her way to the ledge.

“Wait Jaxon.” Kyd frowned. What just happened? One minute she was responding to him sexually. The next minute she was literally scaling down a mountain wall to get away from him. He followed after the exasperating female. He sniffed but did not detect any danger. He allowed her to go ahead of him to the stream. He did a quick parameter check. He didn’t sense anything out of place. It was time to hunt down his female.

“What in Kitana are you doing?” Kyd is shocked when he comes upon the little hidden stream and discovers Jaxon practically naked except for her bra and underwear. She is waist deep walking towards him coming out of the water. He watches with longing at the way the water runs down her smooth soft skin. His breathing becomes rapid and everything male in him screams for him to take her, that she is his. He shakes his head to try to clear his thoughts.

“I was just cleaning myself like you said.” Jaxon replied innocently.

Damn female knew what she was doing to him. He growled. He couldn’t help it.

“No.” One word from her lips and his whole system froze.

“No? What do you mean
no
?”

“I mean, you can look but you are never going to touch me again. I will not be used like that.” Jaxon states coolly. She turns and starts getting dressed.

“Jaxon I …” He was confused. She thought he was using her? She was the one that betrayed him and his people. Why was he feeling guilty?

“Shh. I think I hear something.” She whispers.

She
heard something? Her senses were not nearly as sharp as his were. He paused to listen. He turned his head to the right. He heard it as well.

“Come over here and stand behind me.”

She started to move towards him slowly. She planned to stand beside him, not behind him. She reached down to grab the dagger she kept in her right boot.

“Move Jaxon!” Kyd yells out as he throws his body in front of her. Jaxon doesn’t hesitate, she releases her dagger. A huge bald headed, yellow looking creature/man stumbles and then falls forward onto the ground. It is a direct hit in the heart.

She turns back towards Kyd. Oh God no. “Kyd?” She kneels down beside him. He has yellow stuff oozing out of his side. “What is this …  stuff?”

“Blood.” He was having difficult time breathing.

“What? You’re bleeding?” Fuck! She puts her hands over the wound to try to stop the flow. Come on Jaxon remember your combat injury training. She takes off her flight shirt again and folds it up into a width of 6 inches. She wraps it around his waist and uses the sleeves to hold it in place.

What is the blasted female doing now? “Put your shirt back on!”

“Shut it Commander. We need to get you to a hiding spot.” She searches the secluded area. There, on the other end of the little stream are some tall bushy shrubberies thick enough to hide him in. She bends down and puts her shoulder under his arm. She carefully wraps her arms around his waist and helps him stand up. He’s really heavy.

“Move it Commander. Are you going to let a little girl like me do all the work?” She teases him.

“You would only hold me back little girl.” He grunts at her as they make their way to the shrubbery. With each step he feels extreme pain. The walking is nothing compared to having to scoot inside the small area. The  process is torturous. He breathes heavily from the exertion. It isn’t really big enough for both of them to hide in.

“Go back … to the cave.”

“You can forget about it Commander. Give me your gun laser thingy.”

“No …” He shook his head and felt woozy. “Cave … now.” His head lolled back on the ground. He passed out.

Kyd wasn’t sure how long he was out. When he woke up, his phase ray weapon was gone. And so was Jaxon. “Jaxon?” He croaked out.

“I’m right here.” She pulls the limbs back and pushes her way inside. She uses a crudely carved cup made of a piece of wood to bring him water.

“Drink some water.”

He lifts his head up and drinks keeping his eyes on her the whole time. “You are so beautiful.”

“How much blood have you lost?” She looks over his wound worriedly. The blood flow has slowed but it won’t stop completely.

“Want hold mate.” Kyd slurs the words as he gazes at her fuzzy image.

“Hang in there baby.” Please God, let help get here soon.

Kyd breathes deeply detecting something in the air. “I think I  smell Katierans.”

“Great, then help will be here soon.” Jaxon peeks out of the shrubbery.

“I can smell Morins closing in on us.” Kyd mumbles.

Jaxon stiffens. If the Morins are closer to them, she will have to hold them off until the Katierans arrive. She moves closer to Kyd and pulls his head up into her hands. His eyes are out of focus. He is about to pass out again. “I love you.” She whispers and kisses him gently.

Leaving him inside the shrubs was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. But she needed to keep the Morins as far away from him as possible. She would fight to the death to protect her man.

Jaxon fingers her dagger that she retrieved from the dead Morin. She walks to the other side of the stream and waits. There is no point in hiding. If these guys have half the senses that the Katierans have, they can find her in a heartbeat. Her best option is to do the unexpected. Remain out in the open, a defenseless female in their eyes.

It seemed like forever standing there waiting for the enemy to show. She prayed that Kyd was doing okay. It worried her that he lost a lot of blood. She checked on him a few times and he was in and out of consciousness.

She smelled them before she saw them. They smelled like a backed up sewer bubbling up from the ground. She had to work on controlling her response to their repugnant odor. It made her feel like throwing up.

“Female. You will come with us.” A Morin comes through the clearing. He has the same yellowish coloring and a bald head like the other one. In fact, there is no hair on him at all.  No eyebrows or chest hair that she can see. He is wearing only a pair of pants. His eyes are a solid yellow color with no pupils at all. It gives her the shivers. He is the same height as an average Katieran; however, his appearance is sickly looking. Hence, the smell.

“I think I’ll stay here. But thanks for the offer.” She says flippantly.

The Morin looks at her questioningly. Two more Morins come out and begin to walk around the stream. The first Morin asks, “Where is the Katieran?”

“Dead, your guy over there shot him right before the Katieran threw a knife at him.” She told him. She noticed that the second Morin was eyeing her shirtless appearance and licking his lips. Gross. The third Morin was getting a little too close to Kyd. She needed to distract them.