Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 132
‘I still count her as an enemy, which is why I think about her—not because I think she is a potential member of this team or our family,’ Boyd grumbled as he moved through a smaller version of their luxury locker room.
The biggest difference was that this one actually had lockers. It also lacked the wide selection of towels, bathing implements, or the various liquids, gels, creams, pastes, sprays, solids, and other miscellanies cleaning and spa products that went with them.
‘She’s still the only Porter you ever think about,’ Mindy said in a sing song tone, a big smile quirking her lips. ‘Besides, if you were to make her one of your Devoted, you could be sure of her loyalty to you above all.’
Boyd just glowered at her, not liking the direction the conversation had taken in the least.
‘Fine… okay… just, fine. I was teasing you—well, mostly teasing you. But we will need a Porter if we want to aim any higher than a Regional Response Team.’ Mindy settled back into the bed, getting more comfortable as he walked into the bath and down the steps.
A voice called out, “I know you think the Knights of the Globe should retire, but someone has to replace them before they can.”
The physical Mindy picked up the thread of their mental conversation aloud from the lower level of the massive chamber by the big pool. She wore a towel over a less than conservative bathing suit. The mixed signals made it hard for him to tell if she was here to comfort him or to entice him. If the former, she certainly planned on teasing him while providing solace. Either way, he found he wasn’t upset about her planting the idea to take a bath in his head.
“It’s because they have become a bunch of cowards as they close in on retirement,” Boyd grumbled as he skipped down the steps to the big pool and pulled her into a hug, stealing her lips for a soft kiss. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Mindy smiled back at him.
Hooking her arm through his, she began to lead him in the direction of their favorite grotto. “But yes, the Knights have become… cautious. Oh! Is it really as low as one in three?” Mindy responded to his thought about the number of calls they accepted.
She frowned. “I thought it was closer to half.”
“It was half two years ago, but it’s been on a steady decline since. A Global Response Team literally exists to take the tough calls. The Code Blacks. The Omega Rays and the Last Dragons. They’ve been avoiding the really tough calls for years, but lately they won’t respond if things look even a little dicey,” Boyd complained. “They were once great, and they could still be doing a lot of good… but they aren’t.”
“Hmm, well, we will have to redouble our search to find a Porter so we can step up and fill their shoes,” Mindy offered as they ascended the steps to their grotto. “I think our best bet is to hope a Porter is hiding away in one of the PACs—just about to turn eighteen and graduate.”
She gave him a sly smirk. “Either that, or Stepper.”
Boyd let out a huff. “Next you’ll be saying I should consider giving Violet Vortex a shot.”
“Kuh-he! Oh, hell no. I’ll leave that argument to Silvie.” Mindy let out another giggle. “She plans to argue that the Devotion will make her truly love you—which will make her want to change her ways. And that since she hasn’t killed anyone, redemption is still possible. You would be the perfect thing to rehabilitate her, to get her to use all that Power for good.”
Boyd paused in his steps, his mouth agape. “You’re joking… please tell me you’re joking.”
“Kuh-he-he-he!” Mindy’s new slightly evil laugh echoed through the large chamber. “Only halfway… Silvie hates the bitch. Those were Hope’s thoughts—although she has decided that they are the product of her too-charitable heart and is not likely to share them.”
She climbed up a few steps ahead of him, adding an extra sway to her already attention-grabbing hips and tiny waist. The towel that she’d wrapped so snuggly around her wasn’t exactly thick and fluffy. The sight caused Boyd to lean towards interpreting her actions as enticing, rather than teasing while providing comfort.
She stopped and turned to face him. “Now, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think you were up for it… but, it’s been four days since we were last together.” Mindy paused and licked her lips before admitting, “And I don’t intend us to reach day five.”
She spun back around and gave him an inviting smirk over her shoulder as she continued to ascend the steps toward the heart shaped pool in their grotto.
When she unwrapped her towel, his gothic temptress reveled a swimsuit made of thin black straps, displaying her agility as she spun around to make sure he could see it from all angles without stumbling on the stairs as she turned into their grotto. It somehow covered everything important while giving the illusion of hiding almost nothing at all as it crisscrossed her shapely form.
Just as Boyd’s brain finished rebooting, the Mindy in his mind tossed off her sheet to show off her matching set of lingerie. It was done in the same design, but with nearly sheer patches of fabric covering several of the gaps between ribbons. Both of them wore confident smiles that told him they knew she was going to get laid.
Boyd chuckled softly at Mindy’s playfulness, then darted up the last few steps to catch and lift her into a princess carry just before she reached their favorite pool. As they entered the grotto, jasmine scented steam wrapped around them in a comforting embrace.
“You know just how to distract me,” he breathed, leaning down so his lips brushed her ear.
Mindy turned in his arms, a mischievous spark in her bright amethyst eyes. “Just consider it a perk,” she replied, before capturing his lips in a hungry kiss.
“One I intend most enthusiastically to enjoy,” Boyd responded eagerly.
He got lost in the moment and thoroughly enjoyed simply being with her. Their passionate embrace continued as he carried her down into the heart shaped pool, the warm water enveloping them in a cocoon of tranquility and desire. He let her down into the water so she could properly plaster herself against him.
Mindy’s soft hands roamed over his firm muscles, igniting a fire within him that only she could quench. As their kisses deepened, the world around them faded away, leaving only the two lovers and their shared ecstasy.
At the same time, the Mindy in his mind disappeared from her wood-slat room. A moment later, he felt her sensuous form press into his back, arms sliding up under his wings to wrap around him. He raised and slightly spread his wings on instinct, even though he didn’t need to for that version of his love. The perception of her hands joining the hands of the physical dark beauty before him in their exploration seemed incredibly real to him.
She had picked up the trick of it somewhere along the way. It took a while for her to map his nerve endings well enough to send such intricate and exquisite sensations to his mind. This wasn’t a memory of his that she was feeding back to him, this was her metaphysical twin creating live sensations.
It was an ability she kept quiet about, mostly because Raev was very proud of her status as a one-woman-orgy. Mindy could easily replicate the sensations that Raev achieved with herself and her duplicates, and the goth beauty didn’t want to steal the vixen’s thunder.
Boyd suspected that she didn’t want Hope to ask if his gothic love would replicate the experience using his angel as a stand in. It was theoretically possible, though—Oh the horror!—it would require a lot of practice with all three parties.
The big demon wasn’t opposed to putting in the effort, but was perfectly content with Mindy keeping it as her special thing. Each of his loves were entitled to something special. Plus, they should probably focus any in-depth training time on skills that would keep them alive.
‘That way, they can enjoy down time like this,’ Mindy reminded him to stay in the moment.
Boyd’s mind cleared of all worries and responsibilities, focusing solely on the woman in his arms and mind—one who knew just how to push his buttons and drive him wild. They remained intertwined, their bodies moving in perfect harmony as they indulged the intimate mental connection that bound them together. The water around them shimmered with their passion, reflecting the depths of their desire.
Boths sets of Mindy’s hands traced paths along his back, chest, abdomen and wings, leaving trails of sparks and an accompanying fire in their wake that sank deeper into him than the soothing water could cool.
Boyd’s big hands roam over her curves, once again feeling the need to memorize each dip and swell—which he did every time they had an opportunity like this. Their shared breaths mingled with the steam, creating a heady and intoxicating mix of sensations.
Somewhere along the way, they’d each discarded their limited clothing. Mindy’s strappy swimsuit was deceptively quick and easy to remove. Part of Boyd’s mind noted that she was warming up quicker than was typical of his slow but passionate lover.
He had at least another hour to kill before Raev woke to give him her surprise, though she would likely want to shower before coming to find him. The big demon figured that would be more than enough time to reconnect with his gothic love before starting the rest of his day.
Then again, it seemed this morning she craved something quick and fiery before they spent the rest of that time pampering one another.
‘Yes, very much that,’ Mindy purred into his mind as she jumped up to wrap her legs around his hips.
He decided he might as well enjoy his mental health day to the fullest.
Chapter 22
“Where are we going?” Boyd asked as he followed his favorite vixen into the elevator. Both he and Mindy had sensed her waking up and begin preparing for the day. He couldn’t miss the excitement about her impending surprise slowly rising within her.
Mindy had been satisfied with what, for her, was a fast and furious quickie before winding down and cuddling with Boyd. She pampered his wings and horns with her favorite brushes, and they helped each other wash up before getting distracted and having to wash again. After the bath, they’d moved to the smaller living space between his den and the ‘medium’ bedroom where they would be easily found. His fiery-haired love had sauntered in soon after and promptly led him to the elevators.
“You’ll see in a few more minutes,” Raev said with one of her velvet chuckles and batted him with all six of her gloriously fluffy tails before she turned around to smirk at him. She pointedly looked down at the FDU she was wearing and selected a destination for the elevator on it so he wouldn’t see.
When she found him, she passed him a free-standing Field Display Unit on a wrist band. He could have used it to find out where the elevator was taking them—he had admin access to everything on the base—but that would be cheating. Besides, their elevators moved pretty quickly.
His vixen continued to smirk at him, tails slowly swaying behind her. She was dressed in a pair of black yoga pants, a green patterned sports bra, and a pair of black sneakers custom made to fit her unusually shaped feet. Noticing the sneakers made him believe they were leaving the base. She normally went barefoot, unless they were training.
He expected the doors to open on the hanger so they could fly into Glorith. The Osprey made casual visits easy enough, and it wasn’t like it burned fuel so he couldn’t even complain about the expense. The big demon was not expecting the doors to open to one of the Wild Lands entrances.
Boyd blinked at the closed outer door. He memorized all of them and recognized it as the one set lowest in their valley. They hadn’t done much to pacify the space yet, only having removed the most aggressive of the creatures and a couple carnivorous plants.
“We aren’t equipped for a sortie,” Boyd pointed out as Raev went to step around him. He was only wearing a pair of his shorts, which Mindy had told him would be fine for the surprise.
“We aren’t going on a sortie,” Raev shrugged as she continued into the airlock that separated the elevator from the Wild Lands. “Come on, it’ll be fine.”
“Possibly, but there are still a lot of A-Ranked threats out there,” Boyd wasn’t about to be budged without his weapons. The armor was mostly for show and to hold those weapons, but he wouldn’t step foot in the Wild Lands without some ranged options. Especially with his only mostly not squishy fox-featured love.
“I’m going to ask you to trust me,” Raev smiled at him as she turned and walked back into the elevator. After looping her arm through his and taking his hand, she attempted to guide him into the airlock. Only he still wouldn’t budge so she was pulled to an abrupt stop.
She shook her head and let out another velvet chuckle before her smile blossomed into a grin, “Come on Big Guy, if you get stubborn with me, I’m going to have to cheat.”
Boyd glowered at her, “Or we can just suit up and be properly equipped to deal with anything we might face out there. I’m not saying I won’t let you show me whatever you want to, just that I want to be armed if it’s in the Wild Lands.”
“Have it your way,” she sighed, then stepped in close and looked up at him with big green kit-eyes. She batted her long lashes at him twice before she purred sweetly, “I don’t think I’ve ever led you astray or given you reason not to trust me, have I?”
Hey emerald orbs were so big and sad he wondered if she too had been getting master class lessons in pouting from Silvie. More likely she was just naturally gifted.
“No, you have not,” was the only way the big demon could reply.
“Then please trust me today,” she very nearly begged, tugging at each and every one of his heartstrings. “Being armed an armored would take away from the surprise. I promise you, we will both be fine.”
Boyd hesitated, torn between his instinct to always be prepared for danger and his trust in Raev. Her pleading gaze and genuine reassurance swayed him, reminding him of the countless times she had proven herself trustworthy. With a deep breath, he finally relented, nodding slightly as a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“Alright my love,” Boyd accented, “I trust you, always.”
Raev lit up with delight, her tails swishing back and forth behind her as she pulled herself up for a quick and affectionate kiss. From there she wasted no time in pulling Boyd into the airlock, the doors slid shut behind them as they prepared to step out into the dangerous wilderness beyond.
The outer doors opened into a fern covered alcove near the base of their mountain and Raev led him out through the benign plants. As they emerged into the untamed forested valley that made up their piece of the Wild Lands, Boyd felt a surge of apprehension rise up within him.
It was still cool and dim, the first rays of sunlight beginning to light the sky before their Power and life-giving burning ball of gas crested the horizon. The forest around them was alive with the sounds of morning bird-song, leaves rustling together from the gentle breeze, and the sounds of creatures stirring in the underbrush. It was enough to send a shiver down his spine, a reminder of the dangers that surrounded them.
Boyd’s senses were on high alert as he scanned their surroundings, ready to react at a moment’s notice. He trusted Raev, but the Wild Lands were unpredictable, filled with threats both known and unknown.
Raev’s hand tightened around Boyd’s as they ventured further into the Wild Lands. The air was thick with the scent of earth and foliage. His eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light that filtered through the trees, homing in at anything that looked like it might even consider moving.
His vixen quickly found them a game trail that wound through the trees and underbrush. It was an old one that had been widened by large and tough creatures making use of it regularly over the years.
“Alright Big Guy, we are running just a little behind schedule, so we’ll have to jog from here.” Raev smiled up at him, seeming completely relaxed in contrast to his tense alertness. “I would tell you to relax, but it will come with time. Just keep up with me for now.”
Then, she released his hand and started jogging down the trail ahead of him.
Boyd exhaled deeply, trying to calm his racing thoughts as he followed Raev down the game trail. The rhythmic sound of their footsteps echoed through the forest, blending with the natural symphony of wildlife around them. He fought the urge to stop and adopt a defensive posture each time something moved near his love or him, reminding himself to trust Raev’s judgment.
As they navigated the twisting trail, the forest seemed to come alive around them. Birds took flight from the branches above, their startled calls echoing through the trees. Boyd’s heightened senses picked up on every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig. His muscles remained coiled and ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. He was constantly on high alert, expecting the first attack to come at any moment.
But nothing ever lashed out at either of them—no blinding beams of energy, no terrifyingly fast creatures, no acidic blobs. Minutes ticked by and still there was no sign of danger, challenging his instincts about the perilous environment they were in.
Raev’s laughter echoed through the forest as she glanced back at Boyd, her vibrant eyes sparkling with mischief. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying Boyd’s heightened sense of alertness and readiness for action.
As they continued along the game trail, she picked up the pace, her lithe form moving effortlessly through the underbrush. Boyd kept a watchful eye on their surroundings, his senses on high alert despite the lack of any immediate threats. The cool morning air whipped past them as they jogged deeper into the Wild Lands.
The canopy above cast dappled dim morning light on the forest floor.
The game trail started slopping upwards as they continued, and eventually jogged right out the other side of the forest and found themselves on the slope of one of the other mountains that fenced in their valley.
Raev came to an abrupt stop, spun around, and grinned at him with her ears perked and tails swaying in amusement. “See, nothing bad happened.”
Boyd turned and looked at the quiet forest behind him, at least it was quiet in comparison to his former experiences in the Wild Lands. “What in the hells just happened?” he asked blankly.
