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Prey
by Lianne Burwell
April 1998
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Lt Colonel Paul Ironhorse was an expert hunter. The blood of his 
ancestors had given him the talent. The army had trained him in the 
methods. Fighting aliens had honed those skills. Ironhorse was probably 
one of the finest hunters on the planet.

But now he was hunting his most dangerous prey yet, and all of his skills 
would be required.

First there was camouflage. Clothing to let the hunter to blend into the 
landscape, but allows the hunter to move freely.

Next was knowledge of the terrain. Everything must be mapped. Nothing 
must be a surprise. Surprises bring failure.

Third was knowledge of the prey. The hunter must know how the prey will 
act in every situation. If the hunter understands his prey, then he can 
anticipate what the prey will do, and counter it.

Ironhorse had been studying his prey for months now. Every facet of its 
habits had been examined. The stage has been set. It was time to act.

* * * * *

"Good morning, Colonel. Did you sleep well?"

"Like a log, doctor."

Harrison Blackwood sat down at the breakfast table and opened the paper. 
After a few minutes, he paused and looked around. Ironhorse was seated 
across from him, eating his bacon and eggs, but he was the only other 
person in the room. Harrison frowned.

"Where is everyone?"

Ironhorse looked up. "General Wilson decided that we'd been working to 
hard. He gave everyone the weekend off. If you'd poked your nose out of 
your lab at all yesterday, you would know that. Suzanne took Debi to 
Disneyland, I believe. Drake went off somewhere, God only knows where. 
Mrs. Pennyworth went to visit her children and the rest of the support 
staff all went off to do whatever it was they chose."

"And you?"

"I'm staying here, in case of an emergency. There's plenty for me to do 
around here. Fishing down at the river. Hiking. And yourself, now that 
you know you have the weekend free? Everyone will be back Monday morning."

Harrison thought about it for a moment. "I think I'll stay here. I have 
scientific journals to catch up on, as well as personal projects that 
have been put on hold. I doubt I'll be bored."

"Like they say, doctor, all work... Try to get some exercise once in a 
while. The yoga may leave you flexible, but you could use more physical 
stamina."

Harrison looked across the table at Ironhorse. The other man was reading 
a magazine while eating his breakfast. He was dressed in his usual blue 
jeans and polo shirt that was his favorite attire around the cottage. He 
looked relaxed, and ready for anything. "Maybe you're right. Well, I'll 
work for the morning, but I'll go for a nice long walk this afternoon. 
Will that make you happy?"

Ironhorse glanced up and flashed an unexpected smile. "Of course, doctor. 
We wouldn't want you to end up running out of steam while being chased by 
aliens, after all." Ironhorse stood, and took his plate towards the 
kitchen. Harrison stared thoughtfully after him. The man had a point.

Well, later. Harrison went back to reading the paper.

* * * * *

Harrison turned away from his computer with a sigh. It had been such a 
relief to be able to work on the projects he'd had to put aside when the 
aliens had started to take up all his time. For more than a year, now, 
all his time and effort had been put into tracking the aliens, trying to 
understand them and trying to stop them.

For once, he'd been able to work on something that had nothing to do with 
the aliens. He'd been able to *read* several of his subscribed journals, 
rather than just skimming through them, looking for something that might 
be useful in the fight. Some of the articles had been absolutely 
*facinating*.

Harrison stretched, and winced as the muscles in his neck and shoulders 
protested. Maybe some yoga stretches...

But no, he'd promised Ironhorse that he'd go out and get some exercise. 
It was a beautiful, sunny day. A walk would be nice. He'd seen the 
Colonel heading towards the river with his fishing gear, earlier. Maybe 
he'd go find the man. See how the fish were biting.

* * * * *

By the time that he reached the river, Harrison had worked up a nice 
sweat. The day was warm, but a light breeze had kept him from over-
heating. The only sounds he heard where the insects buzzing in the brush. 
It was a beautiful summer day, and he was glad that he *had* decided to 
go out and enjoy it.

Once he reached the river, he headed upstream. It didn't take him long to 
find Ironhorse's fishing gear, but there was no sign of the man.

"Colonel?" he called out, but there was no answer. Perhaps he'd gone for 
a walk. He decided to see if he could figure out where the other man had 
gone.

Unfortunately, Ironhorse was the tracker, not him. A couple of footprints 
led him into the woods, but he quickly lost the trail. He finally decided 
to head back to the river. He just wished he could shake the feeling that 
someone was watching him.

He had only taken a couple of steps, when a body struck him from behind, 
knocking him to the ground. He struggled, but the other person had the 
advantage of leverage on his side. It was definitely male, though.

"Well, doctor, you certainly need to work on your tracking skills. Not to 
mention awareness of your surroundings."

Harrison sighed in relief. "You're probably right, colonel. Now, may I 
*please* get up?"

The weight on his back lifted, but as soon as he started to roll over, it 
settled down again, this time pinning him on his back. He looked up into 
the familiar dark face, but now it was wearing a predatory grin that made 
him shiver.

"Colonel, I'd like to get up now." The grin got wider.

"No." It was almost a growl. Harrison was starting to worry. Had the 
colonel been...

"No, doctor. I haven't been taken over by one of the aliens, or 
influenced by subliminal messages, or anything like that," the Colonel 
said, as he leaned in closer.

"That's a relief. Then why..."

"Because I *want* to." The hiss of warm breath moved across his face, and 
he was starting to shiver in earnest. He took a deep breath, then opened 
his mouth...

Only to have whatever he was going to say be obliterated by Ironhorse's 
lips descending onto his own. This didn't seem like something the Colonel 
was likely to do, and Harrison was growing more convinced that it was due 
to outside influence, probably from the aliens, but he was having trouble 
convincing himself to try and fight it. The man tasted like he'd been 
chewing on mint leaves, and his skills in the kissing department 
definitely equaled his skills as a tracker and a fighter. His mind was 
shutting down, as all the blood rushed to his groin. If this *was* due to 
alien influence, he was definitely enjoying it.

He didn't realize that the other man had undone his shirt until Ironhorse 
pulled away to strip off his own polo shirt. When the man's mouth 
descended again, Harrison expected the kiss to continue. Instead, he 
groaned as the lips fastened on his throat and began to rhythmic sucking. 
If he could have stopped moaning he might have laughed, as tales of 
vampires ran through his mind.

Sure hands undid his pants, and he raised his hips to allow his jeans and 
briefs to be pulled down in one motion. He gasped as warm air blew across 
his straining erection, and Ironhorse chuckled. Harrison decided that 
since he *obviously* wasn't going to try to get away, he was not going to 
be the passive partner anymore. He reached down to stroke Ironhorse's 
cock through his jeans. He found the resulting squirm gratifying.

Again, Ironhorse pulled away, to strip off his own pants and briefs. This 
time, though, instead of returning to his position balancing on his knees 
and elbows over Harrison, he stretched out full length on top of the man. 
Harrison shifted under the solid weight, but didn't protest. He actually 
found his heavy blanket quite pleasant. Comforting, in fact.

By this time, both were sweating and short of breath. Both found the 
thrusting motions of their hips to be instinctual and impossible to stop. 
The sweat allowed their erections to glide against each other easily, and 
the pressure was building. Even though both men could feel orgasm coming, 
far too fast, both were powerless to slow it down. Too many months of 
stress and abstinence had robbed them of self-control. Both men groaned 
loudly, as their semen spread between them.

* * * * *

"Col.. Iron... Paul."

"Hmm?" Harrison couldn't help smiling at the contented rumble.

"Why?"

Ironhorse raised his head to look into Blackwood's face. The smile, 
confusion and satiation that mixed together in the man's expression made 
him chuckle. "You needed to relax. Do did I. A way to release tensions. 
Unless you were planning on approaching Norton, or Suzanne..." Harrison 
snorted. "I didn't think so. Anyone else would be a security risk."

He finally rolled off of Harrison, landing next to him on the ground. 
"Besides, I find you very attractive, and I've seen the way you look at 
me." The blush made him chuckle again. "So why not?"

Harrison stared at him for a long moment, then smiled. "Why not, indeed. 
But..." Ironhorse frowned, worried. "Could we move this someplace a bit 
more comfortable? I've got this rock digging into my back..."

Ironhorse gaped at him, then started laughing. It wasn't even a joke, but 
soon they were both laughing loudly. Ironhorse climbed to his feet and 
reached down to take Harrison's hand to pull him to his feet. "By all 
means, doctor. Comfort is good. Shall we go back to the cottage?" They 
started collecting their clothing.

"A bed would certainly be a good idea. You did say we has until Monday 
morning, after all. Plenty of time to get some... exercise."

"I'm sure we can build up your endurance."

* * * * *

The hunt was over. They had been captured, coming willingly to hand. The 
hunter was well satisfied with the results.

THE END