Yet, nothing compared to Nick and Kira. Marble statues of Venus, artistic representations of the perfect man, pictures of celebrities long lost to a plague and time. Nothing compared. Nothing.
Except maybe Kira on her back, her spine arched, eyes closed to the sky and lips parted, her senses lost to her own pleasure.
That would certainly be more beautiful.
Care was paramount when he withdrew from Nick. As he held him close for balance, he bent his head, kissed the shell of an ear and whispered, ‘It’s not over yet, Nicky, feel like eating a little sun-sprite for lunch?’
Nick’s huff was laced with exhausted laughter. ‘Oh, yeah.’
They were on her like two rabid beasts. Attention for comfort was lost now, but not for their surroundings. His eye might have been focused on the woman he manoeuvred onto her back in the grass, but his ears were attuned to the trees.
There was no preamble, no restraint. Both their heads descended to take her. She gasped when not one, but two tongues and two sets of lips shared the taste of her.
Nick’s fingers were inside her, curled upwards to rub and stroke. Euan’s pinched and worried a nipple. Her skin was feverish under their palms that stroked, teased and tormented. When she came with a stifled cry, they both sucked her clit through a shared kiss.
Heaven. On. Earth.
And it was, no other way to describe it. Their future held men, monsters and demons. They were to fight a battle for their love, for their lives, for the human race. They were to arm themselves with weapons for war, to battle for righteousness, femininity, and for the privilege to be human. They would stake their lives on an outcome for morality, for decency.
But not in this moment. This moment was to savour, enjoy. Euan didn’t know when another time of reprieve would come. If ever at all.
As he kissed her down from her euphoric high, he committed her taste to memory, her scent. The suppleness of her skin and the sting of her nails on his scalp. He understood the need to hold such innocuous treasures deep and dear. Those were the thoughts that kept a man from drowning, kept his heart beating, his mind clear and concise. Those were the thoughts that kept a man alive when all others failed. A man did not pray for riches in his darkest hours, he prayed for one more kiss, one more touch.
He should know, he’d made those final entreaties to apathetic gods himself.
Nick rolled onto his back and Euan sat on his haunches. Kira’s chest rose and fell in exaggerated pants. Her fine-boned hands rested listlessly on a belly that fluttered with aftershocks. ‘Do I still get my bath?’ She sighed with a face tilted towards the sky.
Euan scanned the trees. ‘Yeah, sweetheart. We’ll camp here tonight and wash our clothes. The end of all this will come soon enough.’
Kira nodded and Nick tilted his body so he could stare at Euan. Green eyes were soft, stated, overwhelmed with everything he felt in that moment. ‘We can make it work, big man,’ he said.
Euan felt it, the raw affirmation. The words that were not torn from a man that dealt with demons or anger. Just a man, who loved another man. Who was full of hope for a future. Euan nodded. It was all he could do.
Chapter 12
Euan
Their bond was strong, their vows unbreakable. If only love alone could impede the very real threat of bullets.
The trees creaked and groaned. The woodland was thick around them, the undergrowth lean and deprived of warmth and light. The layer of decomposing leaves lay thick upon the rich earth. Every step was a noisy reminder of their presence. There could be no stealth in this mission.
Their weapons were raised high. Euan’s senses were on alert. His hands were gloveless, cold, but responsive. The butt of his rifle was comfortable against his shoulder. His finger rested against the trigger, and the patterned grip pressed into the palm of his hand.
The scent of earth and life was thick in the air. The repetitive squeak of baby birds was a chorus around them. Tiny green shoots pushed through the grey dormant branches. Tiny pinpricks of colour against a bleak backdrop. There was no mist that bellowed from their lips, there was no icy chill that wormed its way through their layers to press cold tendrils against their skin. Winter had finally left them. A new season and new hope awaited.
They’d slept, and slept well. Their bellies were full of squirrel and peaches. The watch now evenly split between the three of them. Euan did not to think too hard on how he enjoyed the extra hours of sleep. He did not think about why he’d been such an asshole about it. If he did, it only reminded him of waking with a shotgun in his face, and a blond boy held at bay by rough hands, his nose bloody.
Kira was at his side. Her rifle held in a similar position to his. Her focus did not waver, her lighter body enabled her footsteps to be silent. She was careful, diligent …
Fucking good at this.
He ignored the churn in his gut over it. The sourness that would not abate. This was their future, what humanity required to move forward. Women and men who worked together, who were equal to each other, who could move forward in a forest, side by side, without ego and without conflict.
He knew it, and yet, his heart damn well screamed to cosset her, lock her away and never let her see the light of day.
But he’d tried that. And it had failed.
He smelt it the same time Kira did, Nick only a moment behind. This stink of smoke was a reminder of their intentions, and all pretence of their last few days were gone, evaporated into a sky that threatened rain.
Euan halted, by his side his companions did the same. He swung
