Children of the Moon 2
"Oh fuck!" Tripping over a fallen tree, Riki crashed through the bushes. He slid down a muddy, dead leave covered hill, and rolled to a stop at the bottom. Holding his breath, he scanned the tree line. His muscles locked and trembled as he waited, listening.
"Get your ass up and run," he hissed. Gritting his teeth, Riki shoved himself up from the wet forest floor. He grimaced as twigs and leaves crunched under his feet and with each rushed, tentative step he took. Branches slapped his face and arms, cutting into his heated body.
Riki wiped his face with the back of his hand and cursed when his hand came back bloody.
He still had time.
But it wouldn't be long before that bastard discovered he took off and sniffed him ou— A loud, enraged howl pierced the air.
"Fuck!" Riki repeatedly glanced over his shoulder as he pumped his legs to run faster. He was almost fucking there! Another howl soon joined the other just as Riki reached the slow moving rapids of the whatever-the-fuck-it-was-called river.
Wiping as much blood as he could off of his face and arms, Riki intentionally smeared it on the large rocks leading into the shallow rapids as he quickly sloshed through the water. He did the same after he reached the other side.
Running in a straight line, Riki brushed against tree trunks, through low spindly branches, and prickly bushes, leaving behind his blood, hair, and cloth from his tattered shirt before coming to a complete stop.
Taking a second to gulp in as much air as his burning lungs demanded, chest heaving, Riki began retracing his steps backwards, going as fast as he could. Panic biting at his heels as Iason's howls got closer.
Getting back to the river took more time than he could afford, but continuing on as he had been would have been stupid. Iason, in his beast form, would have chased him down in a heartbeat. He had no chase if he tried to escape by land.
Stepping back into the water, Riki ran as fast—and as carefully—as he could downstream. His speed hampered as the waters deepened and rapid got rougher, until it was finally deep enough to sink down and let the river swiftly carry him away.
He and his crew had been shipwrecked on the fucking planet for six months. Six fucking months, and this morning he'd seen it. He saw a ship break through the clouds and land in the area he'd crashed. He saw it!
Fortunately, that big furry bastard had been nowhere near him at the time. And thankfully V had been with him. Swiftly stripping down, they traded clothes. V going in the 'allowed areas' around the beasts' cave to leave whatever scent that lingered on Riki's clothing so that the others would not notice his immediate departure.
Now he just needed to get his ass there.
Feeling the current take a firmer grip on him and begin to drag him faster down the river, Riki swallowed half the river as he struggled to shore, then returned it once he crawled to land. Vomiting until his sides ached. But, as much as he wanted to lay down and rest, Riki pushed himself up and stumbled his ass away from the river. He fell a few times before his gelatin-like legs finally gained the strength needed to run again.
There was no more time to make fails trails. It was all or nothing. He didn't fucking care if Guy was the one in the ship that came down, he just needed to get on the fucking tin can before Iason got his pawns on him.
Riki exhaled a breath of exhausted relief when he glimpsed, from between slits of the dense foliage, the glint of metal. He made it. He fucking made i—
"Going somewhere, my little Atora?" Fiery one.
Riki had little time to react before he was slammed to the ground, his arms yanked behind his back, and wrists imprisoned in a punishing hold. Face pressed into the dirt, Riki lay still. He didn't struggle. He knew what would happen if he did.
"Ah, little Atora. Playing the submissive will not save you this time."
Riki grit his teeth. He could feel the heat of Iason's bare skin on his back as the shifter leaned over him. Self-hatred ran hot through his veins as his body heated with pleasure when he felt the tip of Iason's tongue on the nape of his neck.
"Do you want to see them?"
Riki shook his head.
"But you've come all this way."
The grip on his wrists disappeared. Riki didn't move an inch. He kept his hands behind his back. He didn't know what Iason was up to, but it was a game Riki did not want to play. But, if he didn't play…
Riki slowly stood up.
"Has the arrival of these trespassers rendered you speechless?" The amusement in Iason's voice grated on Riki's nerves. "Or is there someone on that ship you are hoping to protect with your silence?"
"Maybe," Riki said. "I'm unsure if they are or not. I was just curious as to who they were." He was. The ship had been too far away to identify as one of his people's craft, but they probably were. Who the fuck else would soup-up their ship to enter this planet's harsh atmosphere.
Admitting they could be his people was risky, but considering Riki had learned that Iason had howled a 'no kill' order after biting/mating him. As much as Riki resented his matrimonial state, it saved his crew from being murdered on sight. He could only hope his admission saved the crew that just landed.
"Well, we can't leave without you getting a look at them, can we?"
"What?" Surprised, Riki whipped his head around and looked at Iason.
Iason's smiled shot a chill down Riki's spine. He grabbed his arm and drew him to his feet. "Come, my mate. Let us look at these men you ran away to see."
Now Riki really was afraid. In the limited time he'd been under this beast's thumb—and body—Iason had never been this agreeable. "What are you planning," he asked.
A pale brow lifted. "Do you not want to see them? You came all this way."
Before Riki could say anything, the damn animal was yanking him the short distance through the thick foliage and trees to the ship. However, before they could be seen by the men standing guard at the ramp, Iason yanked him behind large bush that surrounded them from all sides.
"Do you recognize anyone?"
"I can't see very—What the fuck are you doing?!" Riki hissed as he felt Iason's hand slip down the front of his pants, and the other up under his shirt. Clamping around Iason's wrists, Riki struggled not to react as Iason's fingertips brushed across his nipple.
"Giving you what you want," Iason whispered hotly into his ear.
"I don't want this!" Riki tried to force Iason's hands out of his clothing.
"I gave you what you wanted, now I'm taking what I want."
"Sto—ah!"
"If you make a noise, they will hear you," the maddening beast whispered in his ear.
**Removed due to sexual content**
"Strangers are unwelcomed here," Iason said. "Their trespass would not be forgiven."
"I was a stranger," Riki said, trying to not let the sudden silence get to him, He hadn't known those men, but the seemingly senseless act of violence… It was hard not to feel guilty, even if he had not been the cause of those men's deaths.
"You are mine," Iason corrected.
"And if I did know them?" Riki asked. "You never gave me the chance to see if I did or not."
"You did not."
"And you know this how?" Riki hated when Iason went all arrogant on him.
Iason lifted his chin with a clawed fingertip. "Marcus was out hunting for Fidget. The mischievous one had snuck away from the den, again. He confirmed that the new comers were unknown by you and your people."
Riki grunted. "How is it that I get 'chewed out' when I leave the den, but Fidget doesn't?"
Iason rubbed his cheek against Riki's. "Because Marcus's mate leaves to explore. You leave to try to escape."
Riki couldn't argue with that point. Out of all of them, he and V had it the hardest. Both of them continued to resist the Blondes beasts' 'ownership' over them.
"Accept your life here, and you will have more freedom," Iason said.
Fuck that. Even if he searched every inch of this world twice over, he'd never surrender. Riki's hands closed around Iason's forearms, just as he leaned back against the Blondie's chest.
One day he'd escape…but not today. Not today.
"Derrick, can you hear me? Talk to me, Derrick. Tell me it's all in my head, and you're out taking a piss," Riki said into the radio clipped onto his collar, but only received static on response.
This is the last time I partner up with an unknown group of bounty hunters. Riki sighed.
"Still nothing?"
Rio ignored the shit-stain Merc that had tagged along when he went deeper into the bush. The asshole's presences was unwanted. Lord knows he'd repeatedly commented on that fact loud and clear. But the fucker still tried to talk to him.
"Do you think there's a problem back at the ship?"
His second tag-along, Rio did not ignore. The kid was the only person he'd gotten along with since taking on this job. "If there is, Niko baby, I'm sure Fuck-nut's people can handle it." Said 'Fuck-nut' snorted at his insult.
"Keep up the attitude, motherfucker. You're one step closer to getting a knife in the gut," Fuck-nut said.
More like the back. Rio smiled. "Why don't you do something useful, mike, and re-scout the area."
"Fine. I gotta check on something anyway."
Rio watched the beefy Merc disappear into the dense forest before saying, "I hope you had the safety off on your gun." The young Bounty Hunter, the one in the ten-man team he truly could say he kinda trusted, blushed.
Niko revealed the laser gun from behind his back. "The safety was off," Niko said. "I wasn't going to kill him—"
A sudden shout had Rio and Niko dashing through the forest, jumping over fallen trees. Both of them skidded to a halt, with their weapons drawn, when Mike appeared from behind a boulder.
"What happened?" Rio demanded. Mike's face sported a proud, shit-eating grin. "Found myself a nice 'little' trophy." He beckoned them to follow.
Gun still in hand, Rio motioned Niko to stay in behind him—to watch his back—and followed Mike. What he saw disgusted him. Side-by-side, tangled in hunter-wire were two very large, very beautiful, and very pissed wolves.
"I laid out the traps when I went scouting the first time. Can you imagine how much their pelts will sell for?" Mike grinned, all proud and shit.
There was no thought, just action. Rio lifted his gun, aimed it at Mike's head, and pulled the trigger in less than two seconds. Blood and brain matter sprayed across the ground. Most of it staining the pale coats of the now silent and watchful wolves.
"Rio…" Niko tsked.
"What?" Rio holstered his gun. "He threatened me. You saw it, didn't you?" he said to the wolves.
The two beasts stared unblinkingly at Rio.
"What are we going to tell the others?" Niko asked, looking at Mike's twitching body.
"Fuck the others," Rio said studying the snare. "They came for the bounty. I came to rescue Riki."
Niko coughed in his fist.
"And maybe I came for the bounty also," Rio admitted, grinning.
"Again, what do we tell the others? They'll think you killed him because you didn't want to split the bounty ten ways anymore."
"Baby, that's what Mercs do." He winked at Niko. "Besides, he was an asshole. No one will miss him. He deserved it." Rio wasn't a vegetarian, but he had a deep respect for animals. Mike wanted their fur, not their meat. He was all of making a profit, but he hunted two-legged animals to make money. Animals were the only pure things left in the world. If you wanted to kill a beast of nature, but had to go out and take them down with your hands—maybe a knife if they had claws and sharp-ass teeth. Mike wanting to kill those two beauties like a bitch? That shit didn't fly with him.
"They are beautiful," Niko shyly said.
Rio shook his head. The kid was just too innocent to be in this line of work.
One of the wolves, with the slightly paler blond coat, whined. Its tail thumped against the ground, and it inched as close as it could to Niko as it could get.
"Careful," Rio warned as Niko took a step forward.
"He likes me." Niko smiled.
Rio frowned as the wolf licked Niko's outstretched hand. Wild animals did not do that. Wild animals caught in a hunter's trap either wanted mothing more than to escape, or to rip their captor's faces off.
These wolves, though…
Rio glanced over to the second wolf, and nearly took a step back. The beast stared at him with such heat in its intelligent eyes, it was almost human with its intensity. "This world is fucking weird," he mumbled.
Digging into a pocked on his pant leg, Rio withdrew a pair of wire cutters. Regardless of the weird vibes he was getting from the animals, he couldn't leave them to die. "Don't bite me," he told the wolf with the intense gaze. He could only hope they'd run off back into the forest, and not try to eat them once he got them free.
Riki first hear the shouts ten minutes ago. However, Iason's rough lovin' had made moving quickly impossible, and fuck if he was going to let Iason carry his gimpy ass. The urge he felt to find the person shouting, though, was not just because of the shouts, but because the voices were ones he recognized, and it wasn't someone from his crew.
With Iason lazily following behind him, Riki arrived at the location of the ruckus…to find the two people he never thought to see again. One of which he was surprised to see at all.
"Niko?" Never would he have thought to see his young hunter here. The kid normally took jobs finding kittens, and, on rougher jobs, running down a deadbeat paternal late on child support.
The young man struggling in Gabriel's arms stilled. Sapphire eyes swung in his direction. "Riki! Make i-it let me go!"
"I thought you said I didn't know anyone on the ship?" Riki said, pissed.
"They had departed the landing site before Fidget, Marcus, and I got there. Because of this, they were not immediately hunted down and killed," Iason said. "You know them?"
"Yeah."
"Then they may live."
Riki snorted. Arrogant asshole. Niko shouted again for help. He could order Iason's man to release Niko until he was blue in the face, it was pointless trying. He'd been with the pack long enough to recognize a claiming, and Gabriel had most definitely claimed Niko. Iason held him back when he moved to get closer to the pair. He tried calling out to Niko, to tell him that, but the yelling drowned his words out.
After reassuring Niko as best as he could that he was okay—from being killed, at least—, Riki moved toward the yelling and cursing. Jared stood under a lone tree in a small clearing. The ground blackened from laser fire, and was littered with small branches. As Riki watched, a leafy stick was flung from high up the tree, aimed right at Jared. The large Blondie calmly side stepped the projectile.
Riki made to move closer, but was stopped by Iason. The Blondie stared at him uncompromisingly. A clear warning to not get any closer.
"He has a weapon," Iason said when Riki opened his mouth to complain.
Knowing Iason wouldn't budge an inch, Riki shouted, "Drop your gun, Rio!"
"They want my gun? Fine! Fucking take it!"
Riki watched as the obviously battery-dead weapon came flying down. Jared didn't step out of the way this time, but caught the gun, then snapped it in half as if it was nothing but a twig.
"Asshole! You know how much that model cost?!"
When he saw Niko, Riki had sympathized. However, seeing Rio hanging from a tree branch with Jared within inches of nabbing him, Riki felt nothing but sadistic delight. The dick had nearly gotten him killed numerous times, stole cargo from their transport ships, and hijacked his ship to get away from interstellar cops—which got his ship impounded, twice!
"Problems, Rio?" Riki called.
"Get this fucker away from me!" Rio yelled.
If Niko hadn't been so close, Riki would have delightfully told Rio just how much Jared wasn't going to let go of him. He didn't hate the guy, but fuck if he wasn't an asshole.
"Welcome to camp 'Go Nowhere'," he mumbled. "Because that's exactly where you're going, nowhere."
It took six hours before Rio was pulled from the tree. By then, it had become a pack event—the amount of racket Rio made having drawn everyone out of the woods. Sky and Fidget riding in on Aisha and Marcus's wolfy backs. Jade and Gideon, hand-in-hand. Raoul and Katze appeared not long after the two. It wasn't hard to tell what they'd been doing, not with the shinning hickey on Katze's neck and leaves in their messed up hair. V and Orphe were the last couple to appear. V pushing and shoving Orphe's knowingly, smothering ass away every other second when the wolf hovered.
Fire pits were dug, food cooked and passed around. Just before midnight, they chanted, "Go, go, go!" when Jared finally got a firm grip on Rio's ankle, and they all cheered when the Blondie wolf yanked Rio out of the tree.
Riki laughed along with them, the bloody deaths of the men not forgotten, but pushed to the side for the time being. However, because of Rio and Niko, then he knew the others had been bounty hunters. And there was only one man who would send hunters—expensive hunters, considering Rio's "I'm not getting up unless it's six figures"—to find him.
Guy.
His ex-lover had survived.
But, he wasn't going to worry about that now. Tonight his men were having fun, laughing. He wasn't going to take that away from them. One day, maybe tomorrow or the day after, he'd need to bring them together and discuss the potential threat that was Guy. Because Guy wasn't someone that would let him go.
The End…
AN: Okay, because of FF's "No graphic sex" rule, I took out all the smut Ψ(｀▽´)Ψ. Please go to my LiveJournal page to read the unedited version. Much love!