Page 8 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)

I fly faster and smash into ships with hotter, harder hits. My body roars between enemy fire, nearly outpacing their rockets. I tear through the side of another Skysprinter heading for Kelta's position. I refuse to let anyone threaten her existence ever again.

Including myself.

Another Skysprinter races across the desert, trying to get back to the deep valley where my brothers are. The trick is not letting the Solcrue think I’m defending the valley, just myself. So I arc close until I fly alongside the ship, then race ahead of it.

Come on, target me. Try to shoot me down. I fly over the valley and far into the mountains. Then, when we’re firmly over another valley, this one green and lush, I push myself into a tight bank, circling back into the ship.

I savor the impact: the crunch of metal, the caving in of trusses, the power of my engines propelling me like a cannon. And yet, every hit doesn't quite knock down the desire that grows for Kelta. I wish it would.

All I can think about is holding her, asking her about her home, the outer rim, how many were with her, and what they've heard and seen since the war ended. But mostly, I want to look into her brown eyes and try to find the hope she seems to see in me.

Because I’m about out.

When the airspace is clear again, I fly around the deep valley toward Holo’s signal, hoping I’m not too late. He’s tucked in a ravine in the mountains. The ship he was in smolders not far away.

Holo’s signal blips in and out. Something is messing with our communication.

As I race toward him, I look down at the place I’ve left Kelta. She isn’t there.

I scan the treeline and swerve to check her path for Solcrue and CSP. To my surprise, I find a soldier lying beside a boulder. A klick past his position, I see Kelta hiking down the hill toward the valley where the facility sits in the distance. She’s covered more ground than I expected she would.

Pride swells in me. She waves as I pass.

I have to get Holo out of his hole and make sure he’s operable.

ThrusterHolo: Approaching your position now. Status?

HoloThruster: Stable. No combatants visible. Stitching my leg back together now. Sorry for scratchy coms. Pain.

I scan the skies one more time, then decide to check the backside of the mountain. It doesn’t make sense for Holo to crash in such a manner. We always try to save as much as we can, landing broken ships so we can still salvage from them later.

Must’ve been a bad fight . As I circle the mountain where Holo’s hiding, I find three vessels, two Solcrue, one CSP, hovering as if waiting for a call to engage. I roll onto a side, grab my rifle from my back, and aim for their engine cores as I arc just behind their tails.

Ammo is not something we can afford to waste when we have limited ways to make more. So I make every flaming bullet count.

The explosive rounds zing through the air and slam into the back end of the first ship. It blooms in a cloud of fire. Shields can't cover propulsion without interfering with maneuverability. The explosion of the first pushes the second ship into the third. All I need is one more to blow, and it will take out both.

The rifle kicks against my shoulder as I launch another round toward the careening ships. I hit the third in the ass and send the CSP and final Solcrue vessel to the rocky hills in billowing clouds of smoke and fire. No one ejects. I didn’t give them time.

I rush around the mountain and scan once more before dropping to my feet near Holo’s position.

He gets up onto unsteady limbs when he sees me.

“You good?” I ask

“Good enough for a drop.” Holo pats his damaged thigh. “If I can have an hour at camp, I can fix it.”

"Copy." I pull out cable tethers from my sides and walk around behind Holo.

“Been a long time since I did a jump,” he admits.

"Just slap the cables for release. Stretch reflex will disengage them." I clip into the tops of his shoulders, then hover overhead until the cables are tight.

“Power status?”

“We’re good.” I engage the rest of my engines until I’ve lifted us off the ground. Holo steadies his rifle across his chest as we leave the ravine behind to travel north along the mountain range to the drop site.

ThrusterHolo: Approaching drop zone.

Holo looks down at the dark hole in the rocky mountain that opens up below his feet.

HoloThruster: I really hate Welvirs.

You and me both, Brother. I hate that he’s confronting them alone, but I must get back to Kelta. She has important gear that can help us, and I’m desperate to feel her against me again. Ready when you are.

Holo lets his rifle hang across his chest, then reaches up and slaps the cables. They disengage and promptly roll back up in my sides.

He disappears down the shaft. Gunfire flashes.

I wait for a report.

Three more pops echo up from the shaft, though I can’t see the light.

HoloThruster: All clear. Closing adjacent tunnels now. Go get Kelta.

I click back twice and race off to where I last saw her.

Kelta’s made significant progress. She’s sneaking through a slim layer of trees around the valley.

I land not far from her. “Hey, ready for a break?”

"Hell, yes. I've been pushing because I'm hoping to find a place to take these packs off." Kelta smiles.

“Tell me if I hurt you.” I walk toward her. Every step makes an unexpected joy swell in my body, a hunger in my core feeling more and more sated until she’s finally in my arms again. There’s reassurance in being with her. And I think I understand what Rebel feels when he sees Taline.

Kelta loops her arms around my neck and lifts a leg near my hips. “I’m too heavy to jump now. A little help?”

The mischief sparkling in her eyes makes my ultromotor spool up. I slide my hands over her hips and hoist her up.

A hot rush of desire stirs in my core. I wish I could stop my cock from swelling so firmly in response to her, but when she bites her lip and waggles her brows, my embarrassment vanishes.

“You like that?” I ask.

Kelta sweeps her lips over mine. “Do you?”

My engines start-up as I think about getting us to camp so we can explore more of whatever this is. I rocket us up into the sky and race her toward the shaft where Holo hides. As we near the dropsite, I force myself to look away from Kelta and do one final scan. With the airspace clear, I lower us.

Darkness swallows us slowly. Kelta peers up as we descend and draws a gun. “Do you hear that?”

I can’t hear much over my engines’ drone.

She points her gun overhead, squints, and fires. Bits of metal rain down into the shaft. Kelta holsters her gun and sighs. “Damn drones. They used to land on our ships and leach information.”

We land beside Holo, who stands just inside the tunnel toward the base. He's already looking over the parts of the drone.

“Something wrong?” I ask

He strips out some wiring. “Useful actually. How did you hear that?”

Kelta points her gun down the tunnel. “It’s a high-pitched whine, sort of like ears ringing. Only females can hear it.”

Holo shrugs and glances at me. “Glad we have you then. I didn’t hear anything. Didn’t show up on scanners either.”

Kelta follows him down the tunnel. I take up a position behind her, just in case another drone or the like decides to try and follow.

HoloThruster: close the shaft. Take this.

I turn to him and catch a grenade. “Be ready to run, Kelta.”

“Run, with all this gear?”

Holo takes her backpack and duffel. “I’m sure Thruster would take it but he’s still glowing hot.”

She giggles. “He is hot.”

Holo gives me a funny look. When he’s loaded up and running down the tunnel with Kelta behind him, I twist the grenade and toss it. It blinks blue in the distance as I turn and run.

A flash of blue-white light sends a rock-shattering rumble through the tunnel. Bits of gravel and dust rush by me. I ignite my engines and catch up to the wave, pass it, then land behind Kelta and shield her.

She stops running and hunkers in the shield of my body. As the wind rips by, her braids dancing in it, I realize she chose to trust me, to accept my help despite how I’ve hurt her.

When the air calms, we hustle up to where Holo enters a steaming cavern of hot springs. The perforated ceiling lets in beams of sunlight through the fingers of ferns. Kelta stares at the place in awe.

Holo grumbles and limps to an area of flat rock, where he sits with a groan and begins spreading out his parts. "Don't get in the red pools. Those are corrosive. It's why we're safe down here. Green and blue pools are okay. Lots of minerals mixing through this region."

Kelta mumbles as she paces the edge of the water.

I set up camp by clearing sandy patches of rocks and sticks, then scavenging edible plants from the cavern while Kelta tests the water in a blue pool.

HoloThruster: So are you two together, or what?

ThrusterHolo: Not sure. We fight well together. But I think she’s just a flirtatious female.

His multicolored eyes flash for a second like he’s replaying something. Holo faces a wall in the cavern and uses it as a projector screen. He plays back the visual he took from his ship of me saving Kelta from the Skysprinter near the cave.

HoloThruster: Can’t even see your body. You pulled a Fury move. Full Torch. You took on SkySprinter engines.

I don’t remember my light being so bright.

ThrusterHolo: I was just thinking about protecting her.

HoloThruster: That's what the others said when they found their mates. I'm certain she's the one you want. Does she want you?

ThrusterHolo: At least part of me. But I’m certain she could get that from any Brother.

Kelta laughs as she gets into a distant pool in just her undergarments.

"Go be with her," Holo quietly says. "I've got to fix my leg, anyway. But I'll stay on guard. Don't think the Welvirs like the sulfur scent down here. They were in the tunnels, but there are no tracks in here. I think we're safe for now."

I look back at Kelta, who's washing the sand from her braids. I want desperately to be with her. "I shouldn't. I'm too dangerous."

“For fuck’s sake, Thruster. Fury has a mate. Fury literally catches on fire.”

It’s unusual to hear Holo swear. “Are you okay? Do you want help with the repair?”

“I’m in pain. Functioning, but…” Holo grimaces. “Go be with her. Let me focus on this. I don’t want to steal this moment from you two. I fear many days of fighting lie ahead.”

His comment makes me pause. “You’ve heard something?”

Holo slumps against the wall as his hands work through a tangled mess of charred wiring. “When I was in our stolen ship, I listened in on the Solcrue frequencies. They know we’re hiding in a valley. They’re not sure which one. But they said they’ve sent a new asset to pick us off. I relayed the message to Commander Savage, Amp, and everyone in the area. They gave no information on what the asset is. But it sounds extra dangerous.”

Holo bends his leg, peels open a bent thigh panel, and then sets it aside. "Go be with her while you can."

I reluctantly turn away from my injured Brother, getting the sense he wants to be left alone.

Kelta floats in the pool, lying on her back, her eyes closed, weightless like I assume she was used to in space. Her dark braids drift around her head. Part of me doesn’t want to disrupt her. She looks at peace. Calm moments are few and far between during war. I don’t want to take it from her.

And yet some program deeply buried in my system makes me unclip my weapon harness, climb out of my armor, and ease myself into the water with her. When the ripples from my body bump into her, Kelta opens her eyes.

I had hoped to stare at her for a little longer and have time to consider what my body seems to want me to do. But I can’t fight something I don’t understand.

I’m drawn to her in a powerful way.

Kelta sits up in the hotspring, wipes her eyes, and smiles. "Thruster."

“I haven’t had a bath in a long time either,” I blurt.

She looks around at the plethora of other pools, then swims to my position and immediately crawls into my lap. “I never had a chance to properly thank you for saving me.”

“It’s just programmed.”

“Sounds like Torch mode isn’t.” Kelta sweeps her lips over mine. Her hot breath invades mine with inundating force. As she leans in and kisses me, something warm and soft glides down my shaft. Her fingers grip me hard as her tongue finds mine.

Kelta pulls back just enough to meet my eyes.

“Something on your mind?” I ask.

“Why are there no children in camp?”

Is that what she wants?

I fear her response to my answer and look away.

“Thruster?” Kelta summons my gaze with hers.

“We aren’t fertile,” I tell her. “We need a special doctor for that. There is little hope of finding one, only a rumor. But it was to ensure we didn’t get our priorities mixed up in battle.”

Kelta leans closer. “I’m sorry, Thruster. I hope you can find a doctor someday. I think the universe would be a much better place with more protectors like you.”

In her eyes is the most sincere of emotions, a reverence I can’t quite comprehend but am immensely grateful for. “I’m honored you think that.”

Kelta rests her forehead against mine. "You are too humble. I mean, I'm glad you're not an arrogant asshole. But it's important to believe in and recognize what you have that's worth protecting and fighting for."

“Like you?” I ask.

Kelta trails a finger over my chest. “Like your sexy ass and amazing hardware.”

She massages my cock in gentle rhythmic motions that evoke a searing urge to bury myself in her. It takes everything I’ve got to not.

Her lips find my neck. “You should not risk your life so much for others. I’d like you to be around for a long time.”

Admiration and lust swirl in a beautiful dance in my core. I clutch her against me in the hot water. “I— I don’t ever want to let you go.”

“Then don’t.” Kelta wiggles her hips over mine, reaches down, tugs her underwear aside, and sheaths herself over me.

“Stars…” A rasping groan leaves me as the heat of her body encircles my rigid cock. “What is with you and not warning me?”

My ultro spools up. Engines try to start all over my frame, and I’m suddenly grateful we’re in water. The shields will keep them off and shut.

Kelta chuckles darkly. “That’s a proper thank you, don’t you agree?”

When she slides herself up and back down again, I can’t control myself. I grab her by the hips and push deeper into her.

Kelta arches. Her full breasts come out of the water. Even through her bra, I can see the tightness of her nipples. Goosebumps cover her beautiful bronze flesh.

I draw her against me as we bond again and again. Kelta's teeth rake over my neck. The light scraping sensation ignites an engine in my back. I shut it off and nibble her ear.

Her pussy clenches hard around me, elevating my growing high. “Kelta…”

“Got to stay on our toes. Surprise…” She slides up and off of me, then takes my bottom lip between her teeth and winks at me. Kelta hooks her heels under my ass and pulls herself down over my shaft with such force it makes my ultro spool and feel like a runaway motor. My balls tighten.

Before I can warn her that I’m about to explode, Kelta releases my lip, arches, and cries out. Euphoria-inducing clenches grip me. She bucks harder over my erection like she can’t get enough of me inside of her.

I pump hard and steady her hips as I fill her again and again. She claws at my sides and gasps for air. The ecstasy on her face is what I live for now. I note every move and how it pleasures her. Being surrounded by her luscious strength is like nothing I've ever felt. I will do anything. Anything she asks.

She falls limply against me, panting. Kelta wraps herself around my body like I am her lifeline. Leaning back, I find a comfortable resting position on a slanted rock and just lie with her in the afterglow, trying to memorize her every curve.

And then it hits me that we just mated with Holo watching.

I steal a glance at him, but his attention is on the wiring he’s reworking in his thigh. Still, I have no doubt he heard us. But as I trail my fingers down Kelta’s back in the water, I stop caring about everything but protecting my mate.

Nothing matters more to me now than her.