CHAPTER 4

"Pass us that driver mate,"

Caine handed Stinger the small flat metal contraption and what looked like something close to a screwdriver. Caine himself was using something like a soldering iron on the underside of the SST machine. Caine wore small light sensitive goggles to protect his eyes from the flare of the irons tip. The two men had mostly worked in silence with a smattering of conversation reminiscing over the old days but that soon changed.

"You've been taking less work off planet lately" Stinger laid it out there as if the comment could be taken or left. And he knew it wouldn't be left.

Caine didn't look up from his work, "I'm the Queen's security detail, " he responded flatly.

"Yea, among other things..." Stinger smiled, causing Caine to beat back a small smile too.

"I want to stay close. Just in case. Ever since the Aegis lifted the cordon from Earth I feel like she's exposed..."

"and?" Stinger pressed.

Caine moved on to another part of the SST and started soldering there. "And it's difficult. She's...changing."

"You guys going through some trouble?"

"No. Not like that. It started when we got back from the refinery. When I met her she was this delicate, fearful creature and then after everything following her ascension she's become so much stronger, more fearless."

"Is that a bad thing?" Stinger stood up with tools in hand so he could access a small cavity on the right side of the machine.

"It's not that simple. It's just...different. She asked me to train her. So I have, hand to hand only. She wants weapons training. So far I've refused but I won't be able to for long."

"What are you afraid of?"

"I guess a part of me thinks she'll go off somewhere over confident and under trained and get herself killed and I can't have that. I can't." Caine shook his head as if he were trying to convince himself more than Stinger.

"You can't wrap her in cotton wool lad. You've got to trust her. Talk to her about it, she'll understand. Or maybe she won't but you need to keep communication open. All else is the death of any relationship. Trust me I know."

"Stinger I didn't mean to..."

"No bother. It was a long time ago. She was a soldier to start with so she was always going to be in potential danger. Maybe that's why it worked. We both accepted that either one of us could never come back each day. Made us appreciate what we had. And when Kiza came along, well everything changed. She got more fierce, protective. As did I. And when Noaxa died it was...difficult but I had to be strong for Kiza. She was the miracle that saved me just like Jupiter saved you."

Caine put down his tools, took off his goggles and sat up "I think She's pack patterning"

Stinger put his tools down and poured them both another drink. "I wondered how long that would take."

"You could see it happening?"

"Caine, you guys were destined for each other. A blind zotacarian could see that. It's why she wanted training, her protective instinct. Her ferocity in all its appetites was bound to increase..."

Caine's mind flashed back to the night before and his eyes flashed to quicksilver and back again.

"Before you know it she'll be nesting." Stinger took a swig from his mug.

"Yea we may have skipped that step," Caine rubbed his brow with the back of his hand and stood up to stretch out protesting muscles.

Stinger's face was lit up, "Congratulations. I wonder why the bees didn't notice?"

"Easy there Stinger. She isn't. Not yet anyway. We kinda decided to see what happens."

"Since when?"

"Since last night."

"Oh then it's early days." Stinger sensed some unease in Caine. "So what's got your fur ruffled? Do you not really want..."

"I do!" Caine interrupted. "It's just, so many factors right now. Is it the right time, are we even on the right world? She's definitely the right person but am I? Who knows if we are even compatible and what if it comes out...wrong?"

"Wrong?" Stinger rested forward, elbows on his knees, his paternal side creeping out.

Caine looked down and started packing his tools away. "Like I did."

Stinger shook his head, got up and walked over to Caine, "Oh lad, " He cupped Caine's shoulder. "There isn't a damn thing wrong about you. Them bloody splice bastads really did a number on you but know this. She is a Queen and you are Alpha Lycantant. Splice or no splice that's a recipe for greatness. Kiza was born with several genetic anomalies and look at her, she's pretty bloody perfect."

Caine smiled, "Yeah she is."

"She's the best thing I ever did with this life Caine. Don't let your own demons deny yourself the same."

Caine nodded. Stinger nodded back and patted his shoulder. There was nothing more to be said. And with that he left Stinger to finish up on his own.

It was moving on 9pm and the sun was nearly done setting in the evening sky. Out there in the countryside sunset seemed to last that little bit longer and burn that little bit brighter for the time of year. Caine had come back into the dining room to find Kiza lying on the sofa eating ice cream while flicking through pictures on her phone.

"Hey Caine, come take a selfie with me!" Kiza's brow raised in anticipation but she knew the response that was coming.

"Sorry kiddo, Lycantants don't take selfies."

"Buzzkill!" She wrinkled her nose at him.

Caine smiled and went over to her tussling her hair and lay a kiss on her head, "I think you'll find you're more of the buzz, I'm just the kill. Where's Jupiter?"

Kiza shrugged, "Said she wanted some fresh air. She's outside. Try the lake."

Caine thought he smelled water nearby. A lake huh.

"Here take these" Kiza called after him. As soon as Caine turned to her he got two blankets in the face and her laughter to go with it. "It can get chilly out there after sunset."

Caine bared his teeth, "Game on Kiza!" He dumped the blankets on the floor and hunkered down into attack pose. Kiza, giggled, shrieked and ran off, "No...DAD!?"

Caine picked the blankets back up smiling and heard Stinger's voice in the distance muttering, "It's like I've got two bloody kids..."

Caine called out after her, "COWARD!"

"NOPE, SMART!" Kiza yelled back.

Caine couldn't argue with that as he stepped off the porch and into the gardens. He couldn't see Jupiter and her scent was pretty feint. She was either further than he thought or she was in the water. The Gardens were covered in wild flowers. There were the odd bits of clearing, a few man-made paths but for the most part it was like a beautiful, delicate jungle.

"Caine..." He definitely heard that. His ears perked right up. Then a rustle of grass and a rapid heartbeat. Jupiter knew what simulating the hunt did to Caine's carnal and instinctual prey drive. The speed of her pulse, the smell of her skin now bleeding through his senses. His eyes dilated and flashed that silver again. He tucked the blankets under his arms and hunkered down following Jupiter's scent.

A couple of yards in and it took a sharp turn. The wind changed direction and swirled the essence of her around him. She smelled like soap, strawberries and jasmine shampoo, sweat, sex, she was still in heat. But something else. Caine sniffed the air again, shutting down his ears for a moment.

He growled deep in his throat. He smelled blood. That was the full caveat. His pants were already feeling constricting. He had to find her and have her. Or die trying!

Caine took off again, this time a little slower a little more cautious, tactful, predatory. Something rustled to his right. It seemed like the wind but there was more than that when he set his nose to seek out the root of the noise. Field mouse. Damnit! He moved on. The lake wasn't far now, he could smell it, all moss and reeds and soil and he could hear the distant ripple of something living breaching the waters surface, probably fish, maybe some kind of lizard or a bird and then there she was. Her scent was back, strong! Her heartbeat was pounding in his head, her blood, her sweat filled his nostrils. Caine ran to toward the clearing by the lake as fast as he could with the blankets tucked under his arm.

He came to an abrupt stop by a huge tree. Her scent stopped there but she was nowhere to be found. He turned to look out toward the lake, there were no boats, there were no other people but her scent was there, her blood was there. He looked harder and didn't notice Jupiter slowly lowering herself from the branches of the tree behind him. When his ears did perk up to the rustling of her descent it was too late, he turned just in time to have her hang down from a branch and put the weight of both her boots to his chest.

"Umffh!" The kick caused him to lose his footing and drop the blankets stumbling backwards a few steps.

"Took you long enough." She had a mischievous smile on her face as she jumped down to the ground but as soon as she did Caine swept her feet and sent her tumbling onto her ass. This time he smiled.

Jupiter scrambled to her feet, "okay my turn," She charged him but he dodged her easily. She sent her right heel backwards collapsing the back of his left knee as she spun around connecting her right fist with Caine's jaw. He had to shake the cobwebs out after that one. She was definitely getting stronger. Of course he wasn't going to hit her back but before she could lift a knee to connect with his jaw once more he grabbed her arm and spun her around trapping the limb behind her and in front of him. Jupiter struggled testing his grip. He held her firm. So she did what she had been taught. She bowed her head forward then drove it back into Caine's face, hoping to catch the bridge of his nose. Not hard enough to break it but enough to cause him to loosen his grip giving her a chance to hand spring using his own shoulder, over his head to land behind him now and kick him in the back but he anticipated the final kick, he caught her ankle dragging her to the ground on her back under him and pinning her arms either side of her head.

"You lose." He looked down at her, hair dishevelled, panting, flush.

"Do I?" She said drawing her knees up high enough to lock her ankles across the middle of Caine's back and using the leverage to pull him to her mouth.

Caine let some more of his body weight sink into Jupiter as his tongue found hers and he kissed her deep and slow. When they came up for air he was panting too, his forehead rested against hers. The setting sun giving them the last of its warmth. Caine nuzzled her neck and then her shoulder, then continued up the right arm he had pinned. He took her hand in his. There was a small slit in the meat of her palm. He eyed Jupiter accusingly, but she just smiled back devilishly. She'd cut herself on purpose to stir his blood lust.

"Always playing dirty," He moved her arms so that he now pinned both her wrists together above her head with one hand. He leaned down to her ear and whispered, "seems someone needs to be taught a lesson."

Jupiter's eyes opened wide when Caine reached down to his thigh holster for a hunting knife. He pressed a button on the handle and a cord release sprung from it. He staked the knifes blade into the ground just above Jupiter's wrists then drew the cord out to tie her wrists to the knifes handle. Caine wrapped the cord several times, enough to be secure. When he let go of Jupiter's wrists she couldn't move from the spot. She was staked to the ground on her back like a camping tent and her pulse sped up at the thought of what was to follow. She bit down on her bottom lip squeezing her thighs together to try and ease the ache. Her eyes never came off Caine though and he noticed as he sat straddling her legs and taking off his jacket. He then spread a blanket out and proceeded to tug it up under Jupiter's body so she wasn't lying directly on the cold ground. He couldn't quite read her eyes.

"What? What are you thinking?"

Jupiter smiled, "I'm thinking about what's coming next solider."

Caine's eyes smiled as his mouth lowered to her ear in a growl, "You're cumming next." And before she could even speak again Caine's fingers were inside her.

"Fuck!" The profanity leapt out of her. She didn't even realise he'd undone her pants at any point but he had and now he was playing her like an instrument made for him alone. His other hand tugged her shirt up to reveal her bra. He reached under her to unclasp the bra so he could move it up and out of the way enough to free her breasts begging for Caine to devour them. He started with the left one causing Jupiter to gasp as he moved between teeth and tongue. His other hand meanwhile had inserted two fingers deep into Jupiter's slick folds while his thumb rubbed her sensitive bud.

Jupiter's cries intensified, her hips bucking off the ground trying to match Caine's rhythm. "Don't stop!" She panted, her hands wringing themselves into knots above her head. She wanted to touch him. she wanted to rip the knife from the ground, throw Caine onto his back and fuck his brains out. Caine noticed the spike in her adrenalin, the surge in her heart rate, he knew she was in a haze of lust, he could scent the change in her and it massaged his Alpha ego to no end knowing that only he could get her into such a frenzy and they'd barely started.

"Caine...please..." Jupiter whined as he attacked her right breast taking her nipple into his mouth until it was painfully erect then closing his teeth around it while pinching her clit. This caused her to make his favourite sound. It was something between pleasure and pain, a whimper of submission. That's the sound he wanted. She was close, so close so he pulled his fingers out of her and his mouth from her breast much to her protest.

Caine bought his hand out of her pants and put his two fingers in his mouth, licking her essence from them, savouring her. Jupiter found it intensely erotic when he did this and he always did so without breaking eye contact with her. He wanted her to know that he was in love with, obsessed with, craved every inch of her and then he leaned down to kiss her so she could taste herself on his lips.

He kissed down her chin, her chest and her stomach, taking a moment to sit up and tug her jeans off and then her soaked underwear. "Open" Caine demanded, quietly, calmly.

Jupiter raised her knees so her feet were flat on the ground and spread them apart. Caine's eyes lowered to her swollen lips. He begun to take his shirt off. "Wider." His voice was that low growl again and he never took his eyes off her wet folds as he tossed his shirt aside and began loosening his belt.

Jupiter could feel the cool breeze hitting the moisture between her legs and squeezed her knees together once again to try and rub away the ache. Caine shook his head, "Open!"

Jupiter did as she was told and widened her knees again, laying there captured, exposed. Caine lowered himself over Jupiter rubbing his face over her breasts and this time she could feel the head of him rubbing up and down against her slit. She tried to inch her hips down to take him inside her but he kept his distance only allowing the tip of him any access to her. When Jupiter whined again Caine pushed the head of his now almost painfully hard cock inside her. Just the head with short shallow pumps.

"Please Caine...more..." Jupiter was writhing on the ground beneath him and it was taking all Caine's concentration not to lose control. He pushed deeper into her, slowly until he was fully sheathed. Jupiter's hips were thrusting up at him. Caine was propped up on his elbows and pushed deeper. Jupiter groaned. "yes..."

Caine smiled, then began to pull almost all the way out and slide back up to the hilt. Jupiter whimpered. Caine withdrew from her again and slid back home this time that little bit harder.

"More...faster" Jupiter begged. And Caine thrust into her faster.

"Harder...deeper..." And he did, harder, deeper, faster. Caine pulled a knees up so he could get more leverage and thrust in and out, in and out again and again. He angled his body so his length stroked her upper wall on each stroke and bumped that sensitive spot inside. Jupiter's thighs clamped around him and held him captive inside her.

"Don't stop!"

Caine couldn't even if he wanted to. He was getting close too but he had to see her over first. She was his Queen after all. "Jupiter..." it was barely her name, more a carnal sound in the back of his throat as pleasure spilled over. She was so tight, so hot, so wet. Every time he pulled out it was like she had a grip on him and when he slammed back inside her, causing her breasts with their swollen peaks to bounce it bought him closer to the edge. Caine moved up slightly clamping both his hands around Jupiter's bound wrists, forcing them into the ground while he ground himself into her, grazing her clit on every up thrust. The pressure was building in Jupiter's stomach, a ball of tension building bigger and bigger.

"Oh fuck...Caine!..."

She was so close, he pumped harder, sure he must be hurting her but she never cried in pain. "More.." she begged, her voice strained, "yes...yes...yes...so good...right there... yes" and Caine kept at that angle again and again, harder, deeper and then her eyes flung open and her mouth let out such a cry, things in the nearby grass fled to safety. She was undone whimpering, groaning like her body was possessed. The climax ripped through her and Caine didn't let up, he kept thrusting over and over and she kept cumming. Her hands gripped the handle of the knife that staked her to the ground and her body bucked but when Caine reached down and pinched her clitoris it sent her over the edge a second time. She gasped like someone drowning. Her body froze and she just let Caine give her the climax. It was like her senses were overloaded. every muscle locked, everything but the ones that were pulsing and undulating inside her as the climax tore through her body and then Caine could take no more. His thrusts got frantic, erratic and he spilled himself inside her tight velvet walls grunting into the heavens. As Jupiter returned to her senses Caine was losing his. Her body milking him, massaging every last drop from him as her hips involuntarily pumped and pumped with lustful aftershocks.

"Holy shit!" Caine pulled the knife out from the ground and untied Jupiter's hands and collapsed on top of her trying not to crush her with his weight. He just couldn't move any more right that minute and Jupiter loved to feel the pressure of him on top of her. She could still feel him hard and pulsing inside of her. "You've made a slave outta me, you know that right?" Caine caressed her cheek and gently kissed her lips.

Jupiter smiled first, not sure if her mouth would work but when Caine went to move she tugged him back, "Not yet, I love the feel of you inside me."

Caine smiled and turned them both slightly on to their sides so his weight was no longer crushing Jupiter. With her leg hooked over his hip he could still be inside her and he was taking a while to get soft. That suited Jupiter just fine. She closed her eyes and just enjoyed being out under the stars with the man she loved perfectly melded with her.

"You wanna get some sleep?" Caine asked seeing Jupiter's eyelids lower slightly.

She nodded and yawned, "will you stay...here?" She thrust her hips gently where they were still joined.

Caine smiled softly, "as long as I can Your Majesty." and he reached for the other blanket to wrap around them.

In the morning Caine and Jupiter had the good grace to look sheepish and guilty when they ventured back into the house. They went straight up to the bathroom to shower. Walking passed Stinger's room they heard him call out, "Dirty stop outs! Mind you, the racket you two were making last night, probably best you took to ruttin al fresco."

Jupiter whispered, "oh my god, they heard us?"

Caine lead her into the bathroom. "I think New York heard us."

Jupiter looked mortified, her face in her hands. Caine just looked accomplished. She looked up at him between her fingers of shame "How are you not embarrassed?"

Caine shrugged. "I please you. Why would I be ashamed of that?"

"CAINE, JUPITER?" Stinger's voice. "You better come see this!"

Caine came down the stairs first followed by Jupiter and went into the living room where Kiza and Stinger were in front of the TV watching a burning building on a breaking news report.

"...Police have yet to confirm but with an explosion of this magnitude it is not expected that there will be any survivors. Rescue teams have already pulled 3 bodies from the wreckage. Neighbours say that they were awoken by a loud bang in the early hours of this morning but the source of the explosion is yet to be verified. Neighbours say the house belonged to a local family of 7, who are well known and liked. This truly is a tragedy for this quiet street. We'll bring you more news as it breaks..."

Jupiter's eyes were wide. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.

"Jupe?" Caine turned to her hearing her heart beating frantically in her chest. She shook her head and started pacing, her hands over her ears.

"No..no, " She ran over to her bag and dug out her cell phone. "No please..." She dialled but the phone just rang and rang on the other end. She tried another number. Same response. She tried her uncle, her cousin, her aunt. No answer. Then she froze.

"Jupiter?"

She couldn't hear him. The bees heard her though. They swarmed into the house and circled above her in a thick cloud of buzzing black and yellow. One by one tears filled her eyes and spilled over but it wasn't until Caine touched her that Jupiter collapsed to the ground. He went with her holding her close as she lifted her head to the heavens and cried out in anguish.