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  Huon’s fist pumped harder and his balls began to contract. He forced his eyes to remain open, watching as Judie convulsed under Tybor, shuddering and arching. She slumped backwards but Tybor kept up his driving rhythm for one, two, three thrusts more. Then he arched up again, pulling right out of her for a moment, and Huon saw the bulbous tip of his cock, dark head weeping precious drops of cum, and Huon’s blood rushed into an obscuring veil, blinding him to anything but the sight of Tybor’s beautiful cock. The world contracted then exploded, and he pumped out streams of cum, spurting and dripping over his hand, pumping and pumping and pumping again until the world went black and he sagged against the wall. He heard Tybor’s roar of release, like the sound of distant thunder, and his legs sagged under him and he sank to the floor.

  When he opened his eyes again, Tybor crouched beside him, one finger stretched out to touch a puddle of Huon’s cum that had splashed his chest. Tybor’s eyes were heavy and his mouth slack and loose, his lips slightly parted.

  The finger whirled in a tiny circle. Huon held himself still. Tybor neither moved his hand again nor made any attempt to stand. He looked steadily into Huon’s eyes, and if he blinked Huon didn’t see it.

  The moment stretched on, every passing second winding the tension tighter, strengthening it, making harder to break.

  Then Judie’s voice, pitched low and soft, whispered, “You want him, Tybor. Why don’t you do it?”

  “No.” Tybor’s voice was a whisper, too. “I can’t.”

  Houn breathed out, “We can. There is nothing to stop us.”

  “No.” The words were a little louder, a little stronger.

  “Why not, Tybor?” Judie asked. “If it’s just sex? Just fucking? Why not?”

  Tybor surged to his feet, “Because when this is over, you,” he pointed at Judie, “will be gone. But Huon will have to live with whatever we do here.”

  He turned back and looked at Huon with a look of such sorrow and pain that Huon felt a corresponding ache in his own chest. “Huon has fought for the respect due to a Dvalinn warrior. It can’t be just fucking when it would destroy that.”

  While he spoke, he pulled his clothes back on and stormed out of the room. “I’m going for a walk. You two do whatever the fuck you want to.”

  The door slammed behind him, shaking the apartment walls that careful Austrian tradesmen had built so solidly.

  Huon tried to speak but his voice had gone rusty and refused to work. He scrubbed a hand across his face, gulped and tried again. “I’d better go get cleaned up.”

  “Huon?”

  Judie’s voice brought him to a standstill but he didn’t turn around. He didn’t want her to see the confusion, the shame and the pain he knew must be written clearly across his face.

  “Don’t be angry at him.”

  “Why not?” Huon snapped, his back still to her. “He hurt you and he… He’ll never…” He trailed to a halt, unsure of what he really meant to say.

  “He didn’t hurt me. Go and wash, take a few minutes to settle down,” Judie said gently. “Then come back and we’ll talk.” Even with his back turned to her Huon could tell she smiled. “Humans know a lot more about emotions than you Dvalinn do.”

  He nodded jerkily and went into the bathroom. He showered, taking a long time, washing his hair and letting some of the tension drain away with the water. When he returned, Judie was sitting up on one bed and she gestured for him to sit down on the opposite one.

  “We both know there won’t be any more sex now and I want to see you when I talk to you,” she said. “I need to see your reactions.”

  The tightness in his shoulders, which the shower had lessened, returned. “Is it going to be that bad?”

  A small chuckle escaped Judie’s lips. “No. But you’re going to have to face up to a few things that will be a shock to you. I want to make sure you’re coping with it.” She reached out and took his hand. “I know Tybor said love and affection are alien emotions to your people, but he’s wrong.”

  “Our lack of love is an accepted part of our culture. We don’t have those kinds of emotions.”

  “Rubbish,” Judie snapped. “You feel anger, pride and regret. I know you do. I’ve seen them.”

  Feeling embarrassed and ashamed to have to admit it, Huon confessed, “I’m different to the others of our kind. Just because I feel them…”

  “What do you think drove Tybor to slam out of the door the way he did?” Judie asked him. “You people have been fooling yourselves. If you can feel pride and anger and admiration, then I know you can feel love. That’s why Tybor is so terrified. He feels an emotion he doesn’t want to admit exists. And there’s another emotion Tybor is feeling, too. Jealousy. He wants you so badly.”

  “But he wants you, too.” Huon tried to understand the nuances of Judie’s implications. “I just saw him. He wasn’t faking that.”

  “He wants me, but he has had me—can have me.” Her voice cracked. “He can let himself have sex with me, can encourage you to do the same, and he can continue to tell himself it’s just physical. But he can’t let himself have you, because he knows if it was just sex, then what happened half an hour ago would never have happened. The itch would have been scratched. The need to fill a physical urge didn’t make Tybor haul himself off my body and go to you.”

  With a sinking feeling that paradoxically started in his stomach and rose to his throat, Huon muttered, “I think I was happier without the idea of love.”

  “Nothing you can do about it once it’s there. You’ll get used to it,” Judie assured him.

  The strange feeling got stronger and Huon rubbed his chest with his free hand. “When I think about you, when I think how lonely I’ll be without you when we go back, that’s what you’re talking about, isn’t it?” As soon as he said it, certainty formed. “I don’t want to be without you and I don’t want to be without Tybor.” He smiled tentatively. “I need you to teach me what love is, Judie.”

  Her hand squeezed his. “I think you already know.” She looked over at the door through which Tybor had made his exit. “You could live with love so happily. But I’m afraid you might have to learn to live without it.”

  She sighed and pulled her hand from his. “Go to sleep, Huon. Tybor will be back when he’s worked out his demons.” She sighed. “Sorry, that was a stupid pun and I don’t think either of us is in the mood for it.”

  She swung her legs into the bed. Huon stood and put out the lights, then got into bed himself. He lay awake in the darkness, thinking about the revelations in Judie’s words. He examined his feelings. He hadn’t lied when he’d said the thought of never seeing Judie again left him achy and sad. He felt something light and sweet and delicious when he was with Judie. But what he felt for Tybor was different. It was dark and hard and came from somewhere deep within. He needed Tybor’s respect and he would fight anyone, including Tybor, to gain it. There was nothing sweet about the feeling but he knew that Tybor was tangled up in his soul and his life. The physical manifestation of that—sex—was important. He wanted to be joined to Tybor physically, the need so strong it tore through him with the impact of a fireball, leaving him concussed and reeling.

  But if he had to do without sex, without the physical touch of the man, he would do that rather than destroy the relationship he had with Tybor. His eyes blinked open. Another revelation. If he felt that, then perhaps so did Tybor. Seen through the lens of that understanding, some of Tybor’s reactions became clearer.

  Huon smiled to himself. He’d fought Tybor before and he might have to fight him again to make him see that there was another way.

  Tomorrow they would head to England and Stonehenge. Once there, once they’d returned safely to their own world, where Huon could reconnect with the power he needed to live and the need to be battle-ready no longer existed, he could get Tybor to face the truth. He could soothe his fears, make him see that, like Huon himself, the nature of their kind could change. Hell, Huon suddenly felt so optimistic h
e was ready to believe they might one day even be able to bring their people to the surface, out in the open. Maybe not only Huon and Tybor had to learn new ways of doing things.

  Humans too could be convinced of the stupidity of fearing his kind. Surely once they were openly revealed, humans would quickly see that his people bore no resemblance to the demons that some humans had labeled them as. Huon grinned to himself as he pictured a handful of the cutest children he could find ushered onto the surface world and presented to humans.

  He rolled onto his side still smiling. It would all work out and his people and humans could at last live comfortably together. He and Tybor and Judie could have any kind of relationship they wanted. Once they made Tybor face the truth, it would all be easy.

  Huon drifted between sleep and waking. He heard the quiet rattle of the key in the lock, felt the movement of air as Tybor moved quietly past him, and the squeak of the bedsprings as he settled himself for sleep.

  He didn’t say a word. Tybor had had enough emotion for one day, especially for a man who didn’t believe in it. The hours spent traveling would be as Spartan and as focused as Tybor himself could wish for. There would be no time for love or jealousy or even sex. Huon would leave Tybor’s fragile temper alone so they could concentrate on what they had to do, undistracted by feelings they did not have time to adjust to.

  Love might be new, but duty came first, and Huon was far too much of a soldier to do anything that would jeopardize the mission.

  He closed his eyes and slept.

  Chapter Six

  Huon hitched the bags he’d insisted on carrying higher onto his shoulder and opened the door to the building.

  “Wait here until I check,” he said.

  He slipped soundlessly out into the cool pre-dawn gray, leaving Judie alone in the hallway. A moment later he was back.

  “The street is deserted. We’re right to go.”

  “Should we wait for Tybor?” Judie asked. “He’s still upstairs.”

  “No, I’m here,” Tybor said from behind her.

  She jumped. How did these two manage to move so silently?

  “Got everything?” Huon asked, his question directed at Tybor.

  “Yes,” Tybor answered and strode out, his arms full of packages.

  Judie pulled out the keys and unlocked the car. Huon tossed the bags with their scant supply of clothing into the trunk. Judie moved to the side so Tybor could do the same with his packages but he opened the door and carefully stowed them within easy reach.

  “If we need these, we’ll need them quickly,” Tybor said.

  Judie looked at the stacks of small, wrapped packages. “You know, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to carry explosives into road tunnels, and I’m positive they won’t like us taking them in the channel tunnel.”

  “Then we’d better hope we don’t get checked,” Tybor growled.

  “Do you have travel papers, passports?” Judie asked.

  Last night the practicalities of travel with two non-humans hadn’t been high on her worry list. Today, with their departure imminent, it loomed as an obstacle.

  Tybor snorted. “We have what we need.” He looked at her. “You needn’t look so surprised. Did you think we’d come on a mission like this without doing our research? I assure you we know far more about your world than your world knows about us.” Then he tilted his head. “If anyone is going to cause a problem, it will be you.”

  “My mother was born in Scotland. I travel on a British passport.”

  She’d made that decision long ago in order to make movement between countries easier. Standing in the long, slow-moving non-EU queue at Heathrow was an experience she could happily do without.

  “There shouldn’t be a problem, then,” Tybor said. “If we do run into any checkpoints, make sure you look innocent.”

  “I was, until I met you two…” she replied.

  “We’re not the bad guys,” Huon protested.

  “The Italian police might disagree,” she said. “But if they don’t have a description of us, as long as we don’t look like terrorists, drug runners or people smugglers, we might escape notice.” She cast an eye over the small powder-blue sedan. “The car certainly looks innocuous enough. I wonder how well it will hold its speed on the autobahn.” She threw her handbag onto the backseat. “Only one way to find out.” She opened the door and got in. “You two coming? And no fights over who gets the front seat.”

  Tybor wrenched open the back door and threw himself inside without saying a word. Huon got in beside her and she started the car. For some time her attention was entirely focused on following the turns needed to get her out of Klagenfurt and on their way to England.

  “How long do we expect to be on the road?” Huon’s voice beside her dragged her from her thoughts.

  “The directions say about fifteen and a half hours, but that’s being optimistic. We’ll have to stop for fuel and food, although we can eat in the car.”

  Huon rested his hand on her shoulder. “This is a lot to ask, for you to drive such a long way and us not able to help you.”

  “It’s nothing compared to what you and Tybor have already endured.” Her eyes didn’t leave the road but she wanted to look at him. “All I have to do is stay awake. And I can sleep for an hour while we’re on the train going under the Channel.”

  On the autobahn, Judie put her foot down and the car gradually accelerated until it reached a steady 120 kilometers an hour.

  “What exactly do we do when we get there?” she asked.

  “We’ll pull up a little way from Stonehenge. Then you can go,” Tybor spoke from the backseat. “Huon and I will look around. If no one is there, we’ll be able to transport out at midnight.”

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Judie objected. She took her eyes from the road long enough to glare at Huon. “You need me to wait.”

  “It will work,” Huon said. “Tybor can take me back. You’ll be exhausted anyway. You’ll need sleep.”

  She raised her voice so Tybor would be sure to hear. “I can sleep later.”

  Maybe when they had gone back to where they came from, she’d spend most of her time asleep. Asleep and dreaming.

  “I’ll wait until I know you’re safe.”

  “Admit it, Tybor,” Huon said, and Judie could hear the grin in his voice. “This woman is a warrior too, and you can’t talk her out of it any more than you could make me give up.”

  “Why did Tybor try to make you give up?” Judie asked. “I thought you were partners.”

  “Not at first,” Huon replied. “Tybor thought I was a useless weakling and did everything he could to make me admit it.”

  “I’ve said I was wrong,” Tybor grumbled from the backseat. “I have admitted over and over again that your looks are deceptive and that you are stronger and sharper and tougher than anyone else I’ve ever trained.”

  There was a roughness to Tybor’s voice, almost a huskiness. If they hadn’t been crammed in the car, racing to get Huon to Stonehenge, Judie thought she might have found a convenient set of rooms, thrown the two of them together and forced them to face this thing between them. Until they did, they were never going to be at peace and the tension between them would never be in balance.

  Tybor leaned back in his seat again and Judie concentrated on driving. Huon lay against the seat back, eyes closed, not saying anything. At the first junction with a toll road, the electronic tag attached to the windscreen bleeped. Huon’s body jerked as if someone had picked him up and shaken him.

  “What the hell was that?” Tybor yelled, and in the rearview mirror Judie saw his hand go to his pocket and his head swing from side to side.

  “It’s the tag to pay the toll. The fee is collected automatically,” Judie reassured him. Behind her she could hear the rasp of Tybor’s breath, hard and fast but rapidly coming under control. “It’s perfectly normal, nothing to worry about.”

  “Nothing for you, maybe,” Huon muttered. “It felt like the first jolt of
the stunner Hopewood used.”

  Judie’s grip tightened on the wheel. “Did it hurt you?” She gnawed at her lip. “We could avoid the toll roads if we have to but it will add hours to the journey.”

  “It’s more like the promise of pain than pain itself,” Tybor rumbled. “We can take it.”

  “There are five or six more toll roads to go. I’ll warn you when we’re about to go under the checkpoint if it will help,” Judie offered.

  “I’ll be fine,” Huon said, but his voice sounded thick and sluggish and his shoulders slumped against the seat.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sure,” he said, the words slurring together.

  Tybor leaned forward and wrapped his hands around Huon’s head from behind. “You’re cold,” he said.

  “I’ll turn on the heat,” Judie said, leaning forward and twirling a button.

  “No!” Tybor shouted. “It’s artificial heat. That’s the last thing he needs.”

  “I don’t understand. You said he was cold. I was just trying to help.” But she turned the dial back to where it had been.

  “The cold comes from within. Without access to his source of power his body is shutting down.” Tybor’s voice exuded grimness. “He has to get back home.”

  “You said we had plenty of time,” Judie cried, her foot dropping hard onto the accelerator to wring as much speed as she could from the engine. “Why did you let us stay so long in Klagenfurt?”

  “I made a fucking mistake,” Tybor ground out. “I didn’t allow for the effects of Huon’s injuries. How much that would drain his stores. Shit. I should have thought of that.” He pounded his fist on the back of Huon’s seat.

  “’M not acshually dead yet.” Huon’s slurred voice was soft but it silenced both Tybor and Judie instantly. “Lighten up a bit, ’kay? We’re on th’way to th’ port’l. How ’bout you jus’ shut up an’ let Judie drive?” His voice faded out and his head slumped back against the headrest.

  “Can you make this piece-of-shit of a car go any faster?” Tybor demanded.