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When he drew back this time, Jaden felt his throat tighten at the expression
upon his lover s face.
 Thank you, was all Dersai said, but the words went straight to Jaden s heart.
He would have spoken, but Dersai turned and kept walking.
Jaden could not help but grin. His lover could only open himself for moments
before he had to move on, so unused to expressing himself. It did not matter; Jaden
knew what he meant, knew what lay beneath the words.
It was enough.
88 J. C. Owens
They passed through the leafy tunnel into sunshine and approached a massive
building. Entering the immense doors, feeling utterly dwarfed by their size, Jaden
paused to let his eyes adjust to the relative darkness.
His expression swiftly passed into disbelief as he finally viewed the reason for
so large an enclosure.
 You have got to be kidding me! Jaden turned to face his lover incredulously.
 I do not exactly have great memories of these things, you know.
Dersai put an arm around his shoulder and laughed.  You already know how
to disable them in novel ways, if you remember. You should have no fear of them at
all!
Jaden grumbled under his breath. During the battle that saw Jaden s home
city surrender, Jaden had managed to disable one of the immense Tranaden war
machines by thrusting his knife into the seam of one of the machine s finger joints
and twisting as hard as he could. The damaged hand had spasmed, jerked, and
opened, sparks flying as Jaden had fallen to the ground.
Despite his misgivings, he let Dersai guide him closer to one of the massive
machines. It rested upon one knee, still looming like a behemoth over them.
He did not want to admit that he was fascinated. These things were
instruments of death& or as Dersai saw it, instruments of Tranaden s security.
They had conquered Jaden s country, brought death& but now seeing it from
Dersai s viewpoint, he had to consider their deadly beauty.
All around them, silent and still, knelt over a thousand of these great weapons,
waiting. Dersai had told him that they had not been used since that long-ago battle.
Some were covered in tarps; others were in a state of disarray, as though
maintenance was being done on them.
It was eerie seeing them so benign. Some even had a little dust on them, like
relics of a bygone age. But Jaden had seen them in action; there was nothing benign
about them when they were in motion.
The Emperor s Wolf 89
He had always wondered what they were like inside, and his curiosity overtook
his initial fear. These things were so far above any weapon he had ever used that he
could not help a masculine awe, a need to know.
Dersai grinned at him and gestured to the ladder leading up. Jaden frowned at
him before leaning forward and laying a kiss on those tempting lips. He knew why
Dersai wanted him to go first. He suffered his master s groping and lewd comments
all the way up, laughing at some of the more lurid ones, and was breathless by the
time he half fell into the cockpit. There he sucked in a breath of amazement.
Dersai joined him, smacking Jaden s butt, then rubbing it better and ignoring
the swipe his lover took at him. He gently took Jaden by the shoulders, and steered
him to the pilot s chair and seated him. Jaden tried to ignore Dersai s little grin at
how Jaden seemed lost in it, so much smaller than Dersai himself.
Dersai leaned over Jaden s shoulder and began showing him the controls and
what each of them did. Jaden listened intently, loving the feeling of height and
power that sitting here gave him. What it must feel like to operate such a thing&
Dersai chuckled, then elbowed him.  Move out of there, little one, and we will
take it somewhere you can play.
Jaden was too shocked to even protest the  little one comment. He vacated the
seat and stood with his hands braced on the back of it, watching intently as Dersai s
fingers flew over the controls, his face becoming intent and his eyes reflecting the
instrument lighting. Jaden gasped as the machine suddenly began to rise onto both
feet. The feeling was dizzying.
Then it turned and began to walk. It took Jaden a few minutes to adjust to the
swaying motion. He clenched his fingers on the back of the seat, and he felt his eyes
widen with the thrill of being inside and watching how it worked.
Dersai s hands maneuvered the huge machine deftly, with the ease of
familiarity. The small smile on his face suggested he much enjoyed being in control
of something so huge and complicated. The great doors to the hangar slid open. The
people below them seemed so very tiny, which gave Jaden a reference point as to
90 J. C. Owens
the sheer size of the machine and how tall it actually was when it was standing at
full height. He was completely amazed and rather awed by his memories of actually
attacking this thing. He had to have been utterly mad to even have conceived it.
They passed through the doors and out onto the massive concrete pads outside
that were covered in hard rubber to cushion the impact of the monster machine s
weight. Jaden was rather disappointed when they stopped; he could have kept going
for hours, just viewing the scenery from such a secure height.
Dersai rose from the chair and gestured Jaden into it.  Now, this is for the left
arm, this for the right. This is for walking. He patiently went through the controls,
taking time to ensure that Jaden knew which one was which. He was a good
teacher, never hurrying or impatient. His deep, slow voice encouraged Jaden to try.
Jaden s heart pounded with both trepidation and excitement.
 Now gently ease the stick to the right 
Suddenly the scenery blurred. Dersai went to his knees as the cockpit began to
spin wildly. Jaden s screech of shock echoed through the small space, his hand
frozen on the control stick as alarms rang out, half deafening them.
Dersai lunged and knocked Jaden s hand off the controls. The cockpit slowly
stopped revolving. Jaden sat frozen, eyes wide. He heard a choked sound beside him
and slowly turned his head, afraid that Dersai would be angry at him. Instead, his
lover had his hand over his mouth, and his face was slowly changing color as he
fought to contain himself.
Jaden s fear turned to annoyance, then anger as Dersai stayed on his knees,
with his arms wrapped around himself, howling in laughter he could no longer
restrain. Turning back to face the cockpit screen, Jaden flopped back in the seat,
growling to himself while glaring outside. He crossed his arms over his chest. He
had done what Dersai had told him. It was not his fault it had not worked. Stupid
machine. He kicked moodily at the metal cabinet under the controls.
Dersai finally managed to breathe again and drag himself to his feet.  That
was& interesting, Jaden. But let s try again.
The Emperor s Wolf 91
 I don t want to try again. This is stupid. His scowl deepened. Then he glared
at Dersai.  It does not help that my lover is laughing his ass off& 
Dersai s smile gentled into fondness that Jaden wanted to ignore, even as he
tried to ignore the fact that he was pouting quite blatantly at his less than stellar
performance. If Dersai dared bring up Jaden s protruding lower lip, Jaden would
kill him if he said anything master or no master.
Dersai obviously had to fight down a smile as Jaden glared daggers at him. He
coughed into his hand and started again.  The stick is very touchy, as you just
demonstrated. It only needs the tiniest of movements in the direction you seek.
Think of it as holding a delicate egg with a chick inside; you do not want to jostle
the chick too much or crush the egg, so you must be very gentle and only move small
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