Page 13 of Her Wolves

Nick

Maneuvers were called off and we were all called back to the Capital when we got the news of the Regency Manor being invaded.

This was a damn nasty piece of work from the Soorns.The press was calling them “mantis vipers”—as good a name as any for mutant creatures that were just plain vicious, deadly bastards.They had a combined hemotoxic and neurotoxic venom that both attacked the blood cells and interfered with the morphing ability of a lycanthrope.Lon and I saw scans of them.They made us break out in fur, ear points, and fangs; we were only sorry we weren’t there to help with the filthy things.A whole nest of them appeared to have come up onto the Manor from the underground springs and entered the plumbing and ventilation systems.A couple of them got into the Prime Regent’s office and his private quarters.Luckily he wasn’t in his office and a couple of Guards got into the Prime Regent’s quarters and made short work of the one that turned up there.

What had the Capital buzzing the most was that one of the bastards slithered into Princess Tara’s bedchamber, where she had company—and who her company was.When Lon and I found out about that, it really pricked up our ears, considering the way the Princess had seen us off before we left.Emphasis on the word “prick.”

All in all, the mantis vipers got into a number of different rooms and offices in the Manor, and some people had been hurt.That Upper Secretary Melanie Lovett, who was close friends with Tara, wasn’t injured, but the Regency medical staff hadto sedate her after the bastards were all done away with.Our people took some hits dealing with those damn things.Six of them were in the Guard Infirmary.Four were in the Morgue.

We unanimously agreed that the Soorns were going to pay, and pay heavily, for that.

As soon as the news reached us out on the countryside in the hills and fields beyond Leto, those of us out on maneuvers packed up our gear and jumped back into our hover car transports, headed back for the Capital.Lon and I were in the lead car by ourselves, with me at the controls, skimming over the grasslands with a dozen larger vehicles behind us.As much as everyone was talking about the attack on Tara, it was even more on our minds.

“It would be the Tynan pup in Tara’s chambers, wouldn’t it?” Lon said.

Smirking a bit, I replied, “He was in a lot more than her ‘chambers’.”

Lon snickered in response.“Tynan hasn’t been here a week, and here he is, a hero—twice,” said Lon.“The rate he’s going, he’ll be giving the rest of us our marching orders next week.”

“Assuming he’s not marching himself back into Tara’s bed,” I said.

At that, Lon rolled his eyes.“Damn.I was looking forward to getting there myself, and getting more of what Tynan got.”

“We still might,” I said, frowning, not from anger, but from pondering.

Lon wondered aloud, “What do you think the Prime Regent makes of all this?Tynan was in the right place at the right time, but I mean, everyone knows what the pup was doing there.”

“What can the Prime Regent make of it?This is the open secret of the Regency Manor.Everyone knows what goes onwith Tara and what went on with all the Regency kids before her, who were of age.And everyone including the Prime Regent always looks the other way.How is it going to look if he doesn’t look the other way now, especially after what Tynan did?No, the Prime Regent will cite Tynan for his bravery—again—and talk around or simply not mention where the pup obviously had his dick.Which is where we just had ours.”

Making a sound that was part a sigh and part a snort, Lon said, “Yeah.”His mind was obviously where mine was, back in that shower with her, screwing her half senseless.

We were quiet for a little while.Then Lon, wearing a grin that said how impressed he was, said, “Tynan, right out of the Academy and only here a few days—fucking Tara.”

“How about that?” I said, smiling crookedly with one corner of my mouth, as impressed as he was.“Moves fast, doesn’t he?”

“I’ll say.”I glanced at the control panels in front of me, not really seeing them, but imagining Kris Tynan in bed with Tara.Kris Tynan on top of Tara, humping her, his hard cock going in and out of her very wet pussy.Kris Tynan coming inside Tara.I grunted, halfway sounding as if I were doing to the Princess what I saw Tynan doing to her.

“What?” Lon asked.

Snapping back to attention, I said, “When we get back, I know the first place we’re going.”

Lon chuckled.“So do I.”

*****

The Canis Guard Infirmary did not get used a lot because of our ability to heal our wounds by morphing from one body to the other.But it was there for when it was needed, and after the attack of the mantis vipers, the place was needed now.

When Lon and I walked in, we found a couple of doctors near the entrance, sitting at a computer, going over some charts.We asked about the patient of interest and how he was doing; they told us he was recovering well, and directed us around the corner to where the beds were.Going there, we found two rows of beds, all of them occupied, three on either side of the room.All the Guards in the Infirmary had visitors; some of the visitors were other Guards.

One visitor, we knew.She was sitting on a chair at the bedside of the one we were looking for—and holding the hand of the patient’s one arm that was not slipped into a dermal therapeutic sleeve the way guys on Earth long ago used to slip their cocks into sleeves of latex to keep from knocking up the women they were fucking.He was propped up on his pillow; they were whispering things to each other.She looked up from him to us, and he looked over at us, both of them surprised.

“Nick!Lon!” Tara called.

“Sub-Commander Travis!Lieutenant Black!” Kris said.“I heard everyone was recalled from maneuvers after…”

“Yes,” I said, “after you had some uninvited guests at the manor.”I did not add, …where you were a very invited guest in Tara’s bed.

“Kris was very brave,” said Tara, still holding Kris’s hand.“He protected me and took on that creature all by himself.And killed it.It was horrible.”She looked over at Kris, and he looked back at her, and it was as if they had little hearts floating in the air between them.Tara’s eyes said adoringly, My hero.

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