Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 13
‘But you just did, and without thinking about it, at that,’ Mindy purred into his mind as she nipped his neck. ‘You wanted to wrap your wings around me, so you did.’
Boyd wondered if that meant he could…
‘I’ve got you blocked off now,’ she cut off his thought before he finished it. ‘I feel like I’ve made the exercise more than fun enough for you to start trying to work your way around it.’
Boyd agreed, but wasn’t sure what the rules of this splendid new game were. He didn’t let such thoughts distract him for long, though, focusing on his fingers as his hands under Mindy’s control followed the lines of her ribs as the other traced the divot formed by her belly button.
Mindy leaned them both back a little, which allowed her to stretch her body out. She shifted her legs so that they ran down the insides of his own. She continued to sway against him, her shoulders gliding over his chest while her spine shifted back and forth like her pet snake. Her lips always stayed close to his neck, though, her breath continually sending fluttering tingles across his skin.
Suddenly, his Bond with Mindy surged into the place where he sensed it should be. While Boyd couldn’t tell how she was interfering with it, his other self could—not that he could do anything about it. Not until he Enhanced her, at least.
He felt her arousal and excitement flood into him, and he soaked it up. His own need pressed into her back, the shorts he wore doing little to prevent that. Mindy didn’t mind, shimmying against him and enjoying the feel of it. Boyd soon lost track of time, delving into the limited world Mindy had created for him, made and centered exclusively on herself.
At some point, she released her control of his hands and arms, letting his fingers and palms roam every inch of her they could reach. His palms rolled over every curve, and his fingers traced every contour. When his hands couldn’t reach all he wanted to touch—mostly her lower legs—she released her control of his tail and the sensitive spade tip of that extremity explored her lower legs and feet in much the same fashion his hands did from her waist to below her breasts.
Mindy relished the attention. She melted against him, chest rising and falling as she took deep, shuddering breaths. She let out sighs and sensual little murmurs as his touch sent pleasant tingles through her. Her soft hand gripped his jaw to pull her face into his neck while the other continued to trace her nails along the back of his arm and hand as it roamed her body.
He wasn’t sure how long it lasted, or how Mindy determined when it was time to grant him access to a new area to memorize, but eventually he relearned his love’s new body. He also confirmed that she had forgone undergarments.
Her truly exceptionally large breasts filled the entirety of his huge hands, heavy and soft, when he cupped and massaged them. They were the last area that his hands ventured, waiting to seek out any true erogenous zones until everywhere else had been surveyed. Her nipple firmed nicely, hard and thick, easy to find and stimulate with either palm or fingers.
Mindy enjoyed the slow and careful touches, her breathing transitioning to soft panting as he stimulated the sensitive buds. Their Bond told him her tastes had not changed—Mindy was the kind of woman who needed a slow build-up, if she was ever going to achieve orgasm.
Diving right in might feel good, but it wouldn’t get her off. He had certainly gotten her built up this time.
The rule about keeping their clothing on apparently didn’t mean that his tail couldn’t slink its way up the long, wide skirt of her garment. It traced along her smooth and warm legs, slowly working its way higher and higher. Eventually, it found her center, hot and dripping. Her body was certainly ready for something more, if her heart was not.
She shivered against him and, much like with Tinker, he sensed she didn’t want any penetration. Unlike his smallest lover, though, Mindy took very little stimulation once the tip of his tail found its target.
She hadn’t changed at all. Once properly primed, Mindy went off with only a little prodding. The tip of his tail circled her hard little clit once, twice, and then a third time before she went rigid and squealed.
“Shit!”
She reached up to grab him by the horn and dragged his lips down to hers. Boyd kissed her hard as she came. He knew Mindy preferred slow, tender kisses under almost every circumstance—but one.
When she climaxed, Mindy liked to be kissed with firm passion, so he obliged. Boyd pressed his tongue into her mouth in search of hers as she sucked in and expelled rapid breaths through her nose. His tail pressed down on her pleasure nub as he kissed her—not stimulating it, just applying pressure.
She liked that best, as it allowed her to come down smoothly. Once she’d surmounted her peak and began to descend the other side, she broke the kiss and melted back against him. Her hands flopped to the sides while his hands returned to touring her relaxed form. As she recovered, Boyd’s perception of the world that wasn’t Mindy slowly reasserted itself and their Bond receded.
“Wow, sunshine,” she murmured after a moment, “you’ve gotten better at that—and you were damn good at it, before. Phew! That really took it out of me.”
She smiled up at him. “Of course, that’s in part because you aren’t holding any of yourself back right now. See? Being merged isn’t so bad, now, is it?”
“To be honest,” Boyd was surprised to find he could talk, “I had forgotten about it.”
“Kuh-he!” Mindy let out a breathy laugh as she turned her head to kiss his neck again. ‘I know, you were very distracted, but I managed to keep my head enough to pay attention… except at the end.’
‘Should I… release him?’ Boyd asked, but immediately realized it was a bad idea.
Instead, he slowly drew his tail back down Mindy’s leg as it extracted itself from her kaftan. Then, without warning, his Black Flame surged forward into the long and thin appendage. Boyd gaped as the shadowy fire burned along the last third of his tail, most densely at the spade tip.
“Oh!” Boyd gasped, as he realized that he’d gained this ability when Raev reached the Devotion level; he just hadn’t thought to test it, just like with the Black Flame Vision, which he picked up from Silvie.
His other self thought that Boyd had handled Mindy fairly well, so had decided to pass the information on, since Boyd was too dense to figure it out on his own.
“Kuh-he!” Mindy laughed again before saying out loud, “that’s why merging is so important. You’ve banished all of your instincts to the part of you that you hold separate—which includes instinctual knowledge of how to use your Powers. But yes, unless you have anything else to suddenly realize, it would be best to release the temporary merger.”
When he slowly blinked at her, she continued in his head. ‘Leaving it active too long runs the risk of it becoming permanent—though that takes much longer than this, so don’t worry. But it still wouldn’t be the healthiest way to merge… in the long term, that is.’
Boyd released the dark smoky cloak he had metaphysically pulled over his shoulders and felt his other self as he returned to his room, quite satisfied with himself. He encouraged Boyd to take a nap, although he knew he wouldn’t.
‘It has been an hour and fifteen minutes… fifteen more minutes than you scheduled for me,’ Mindy sent. ‘But, yes… fifteen more minutes of cuddling sounds divine. I’ll let you get back to work after that.’
Mindy shifted around and settled in more comfortably against him while his hands gently roamed her delicious form. When she finally let him go, he reluctantly climbed the stairs. It had ended up being an additional half-hour of cuddling than Mindy had suggested, but Boyd thought the experience was well worth adjusting the rest of his schedule.
Chapter 14
The day progressed smoothly after his very enjoyable therapy session with Mindy. Boyd was sure if normal therapy was as fun as that—or if everyone’s therapist was as gorgeous as Mindy—more folks would enthusiastically go to a shrink. She’d had him practice pulling his other self out and over him like a cloak throughout the rest of the day. While it wasn’t as fun to do so while practicing evasive maneuvers or using the specialty weapons Tinker had produced like he’d asked, he began to see the merit of merging.
Boyd had engaged in rigorous training throughout his formative years to implant the instincts a Hero needed, and he was proud of the reflexes he had drilled into his flesh and bone. Merging with his other self turned those reflexes up to eleven.
The world became a little brighter, his sense of the air beneath his wings sharper, and his reactions just a touch quicker. Mindy explained that this was a result of the signals that passed through the repressed part of his mind flowing more freely, not being slowed by the mental blocks his training had taught him to set up since he’d been in his early teens.
Both of him were in agreement that, while they didn’t like the other, the improvements granted by this merged state made it worth putting up with—for short periods, at least.
Tinker had more than come through on all fronts, making weapons that terrified him in their lethality. She’d dubbed one such deadly device Flechette Balls, a name that did not do them justice.
They replaced the small obsidian ball-bearing dispensers. The cases that held them had space for four, and he could replace any he used quickly, given a supply. Each looked like a four-inch diameter obsidian ball with an intricate pattern carved into its surface. It wasn’t until he gave them a light squeeze that their lethal design was revealed.
Ubon being subjected to a decent amount of pressure, the ball cracked and crumbled in his big mitt, leaving him holding five hundred two-inch-long razor-sharp darts. They had little stabilization fins and everything. It became a terrifying weapon when thrown by someone like Boyd with his A-ranked strength.
He could charge a Flechette Ball with his Black Flame and then, after a little practice, give the ball a squeeze just before throwing the hundreds of darts at whatever he wanted to destroy. After a few test throws, he hoped he never had a reason to use them on a person.
Then there was that… thing… she had made. Boyd didn’t really know how else to describe it. That thing was never to be used against human targets. If fact, he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t ask Tink to destroy all evidence of its existence, including any electronic files or designs, after they used the thing on the Last Dragon.
Either way, they were prepared to carry out any of their plans.
“We have just over twenty-three hours until we will have to depart to face the Last Dragon,” Boyd announced after breakfast the next morning.
Daisy continued cleaning the kitchen while Raev cleaned up her second plate of biscuits and sausage gravy, while everyone else gathered around Boyd as he went over the day’s plan.
“I want to spend the morning flying the Hope scoop maneuver, I feel confident in my ability to fly my personal maneuvers so that is the last area of improvement we have.” Boyd had been the last to meet the standards the mission would require.
“Yeah, you definitely have those down,” Silvie grumped, pouting cutely at him as she hung from his right arm. “You’ve been so busy practicing your flying with Tinker’s new thruster pack on your wings that you haven’t come to bed in two nights. We’ve missed you.”
“Which is why,” Boyd smiled down at his silver-haired love, “we will be entering a rest period after lunch. We’ll need to get to bed early, but I want everyone to do something relaxing and enjoy the afternoon and this evening.”
“R-really?” Tinker asked, her eyes widening and her chin snapping up to look him in the face.
She had been sleepily staring off into space. Not because of a lack of sleep, though. Both Mindy and Boyd had stayed on top of her for that, ensuring she got plenty of rest. Tink just wasn’t much of a morning person.
“Yes.” Boyd nodded to her. “We are ready, or we will be after this morning. We’ll take a half day to make sure we are fresh for tomorrow. We have to go to bed early, though, because we’ll be getting up early to do one more complete practice run.”
“But, we’re taking this evening off?” Tinker asked with disbelief, her eyes moving to Silvie instead of Boyd.
His Bond with Tinker was even more stable after her little treat yesterday, and he sensed nervous anticipation building within her over it.
“Yes,” Boyd confirmed, keeping it simple.
“I’ll be right back, stay right there!” She spun on her heels and dashed away.
Tinker had worn another snuggly fitting but soft-looking bodysuit, her little bubble-butt catching his attention as she ran in the direction of her bedroom. The sleepy fog he normally felt from her for a while after breakfast had completely vanished, banished by a whirl of excited emotion.
“Okay,” Boyd smiled after her, although she wouldn’t hear him.
He turned to Daisy, who had just finished drying the large cast-iron skillet she’d made the delicious sausage gravy in before loading the dishwasher. Boyd asked, “Daisy, could you join us for a moment?”
She’d finished loading dishes into the large and powerful washing unit—likely designed for a restaurant’s kitchen—before glancing over her shoulder with a frown. “Uh, yeah… just a moment.” She started up a cleaning cycle and then floated over to them.
“What’s going on?” she asked, still frowning.
“I was hoping you and Laura,” he nodded to Laura, whose pale green eyes tracked his before he continued, “would be willing to help us with something that isn’t part of your job descriptions.”
“Like what?” Daisy asked skeptically. Her frown became firmer and her iridescent eyes narrowed.
Boyd resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the accusation in those eyes. His phrasing could have been more careful, he supposed, but walking on eggshells sucked. “How would you like to return to Glorith City for a day of shopping or whatever you want to do with your first paycheck—making a pit stop to talk a reporter into coming with us on the mission? I don’t imagine that part will be hard.”
“Oh?” Daisy’s brows crinkled. “Why as us?”
“Because every member of the team, excluding Mindy, is famous in Glorith City right now,” Laura answered for him with a nod in the others’ direction. “If they are seen, it will cause quite a stir. Plus, I don’t think they are permitted to enter the city at the moment.”
“We can in an emergency.” Boyd shrugged. “But our orders were to stay away. You two aren’t technically subject to those orders—so are the only two I can ask to do this. Legally, that is.”
“Is there any danger?” Daisy asked, looking more confused than anything.
“As far as we can tell, and Director Davis has put his intelligence people on this, no one has connected either of you to The Devoted—not yet,” Boyd assured the ethereal Changed woman. “Which is why I want you to go shopping or do something else in public. Be seen and leave a paper trail for you while we are out of the city.
“Oh, and please go grocery shopping for what you would normally cook or make. You can either bring them back here or have them sent to your quarters in The Tower and they will be donated to charity. Either way, you will be reimbursed… it’s all been set up,” Boyd finished with a shrug.
“Um… then shouldn’t I not do much shopping?” Daisy asked. “I mean for things other than grocery stuff. I didn’t exactly have credits to burn.”
“You’ve been given a job by The Authority,” Boyd explained, “and that’s public record. You suddenly having some extra money won’t raise any flags.”
“Okay, then sure, those credits have just been staring at me from my account and are just begging to be spent.” Daisy smiled, her eyes going to a faraway place—likely deciding what to spend her new abundance of credits on first.
“Laura?” He turned to their nurse. “I would rather the two of you go together, if it would be alright with you. While there shouldn’t be any risk, I would prefer you two stick together, just to be safe.”
“Sure,” Laura smiled and turned to Daisy with a wink. “It sounds like fun. Who are we picking up?”
“Kayla Bailey,” Boyd replied and gave Silvie a little squeeze. “We’ll return a favor.”
“Mhmm, she’s perfect,” Silvie nodded excitedly. “So full of gumption, she’ll jump at the chance—I’m sure of it.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Laura asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Then walk away.” Boyd shrugged. “Having a reporter isn’t a requirement for the mission, it will just help us control the message if we have a friendly reporter on the scene with some knowledge about what we are going to do so she can set it all up. I’ve even got a letter for her… it’ll have her home address on it. She was scheduled to work yesterday evening, so should be home later this morning. If she’s not, just come back home after spending a few hours shopping.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Laura said and then shrugged, smiling brightly at him. Unlike Tinker, Laura was clearly a morning person. “I’m in. Besides, I wouldn’t mind picking up a few new things to wear, myself.”
Something entered Laura’s eye that he would have tried to ignore a few days ago. Now, it served to further confirm the exceptionally well-built, highly skilled trauma nurse and part-time spy’s interest in the big demon. Fortunately, he was saved from having to put too much thought into it.
“Oh good, you’re still here.” Tinker shyly came up to Boyd with a package in her hands. “Here you go,” she said, handing him the box.
Boyd arched an eyebrow at the little inventor. “What is this?” he asked.
“You’ll see.” Tinker smiled. “Open it!”
He looked down at the package, bemused. From their Bond, he sensed anticipation, excitement, and a little trepidation. Whatever it was, she was really hoping he’d like it, but was afraid that he wouldn’t. Grinning, Boyd decided to build the anticipation a little.
He shook the package but couldn’t hear anything.
“I hope it isn’t breakable, Tink,” Raev said with a velvet chuckle.
