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It was time.
Gale stared at her from the doorway of her quarters, silently asking if she was really up to this. Katniss squared her shoulders. How could she not? Her hands curled around her bow, lifting it and sliding it over her shoulder. “I’m ready.”
“Boggs knows but no one else does, so you’re going to be in the supply closet until we take off and we’re too far from Thirteen for it to matter.”
Katniss nodded, lifting her chin. Her stomach was churning, fear making her twitch as they walked down the endless grey halls towards the hovercraft bay. Gale, sensing her mood, was a silent presence beside her, his communicuff spitting out commands as they walked.
He touched her shoulder gently as they approached the bay. “Just follow my lead,” he said softly. The two guards standing at attention watched them, eyes steely, weapons held at the ready.
“Boggs needed to see her before takeoff,” Gale said casually.
“We don’t have orders for that,” the first guard said, staring first at Gale and then Katniss suspiciously.
“Last minute,” Gale responded, drawing his attention once more. “Katniss is the only one that’s been inside Snow’s office.”
The first guard looked at the second who shrugged, clearly deferring to his judgment. Turning back to face Gale, he sighed. “Fine, you’ve got five minutes and then she needs to be out of here.”
Gale nodded and led Katniss into the hangar bay. It was filled with ships of all shapes and sizes. The one Gale walked towards was slightly larger than the one that had taken her to the Arena for her first games. Sleek and silver, it perched on the lift like a bird of prey. People in grey uniforms swarmed about the ship.
Gale pressed his hand lightly into her back, leading her up the short ramp into the ship. A long corridor stretched left and right and he directed her to the left, four steps in and then a right into a short corridor with sealed doors. “In here,” he said softly, pushing a nearly concealed button on the panel set into the wall. The door slid open, revealing a narrow space filled with nondescript boxes. “Just wedge yourself in as best you can, I’ll be back to get you as soon as it’s safe.”
Katniss nodded, removing her bow from her shoulder and holding it tightly as she slipped into the room, finding a spot between two large boxes, her knees pulled up against her chest.
~*~
The ride was mostly uneventful and she found it hard to not drop her head on her chest and doze. All the alone time gave her brain plenty of time to run through every grisly scenario about finding Peeta already dead. What had happened to Peeta was her responsibility. All they had to do was stay together and things would’ve been fine. Either they’d have both been rescued, or both captured, but they’d have been together at least.
It was the not knowing that was killing her. Seeing him on the television, knowing that Snow only kept him alive to use as a tool against her, had all contributed to the sleepless nights and endless days she’d been living since the Quarter Quell. However bad things had been for her though, for him it was a thousand times worse. The last broadcast, when he’d been beaten on screen, had nearly undone her. She’d sobbed for hours that night in the privacy of her room, hiding beneath the blankets on the narrow bed.
He consumed her thoughts, everything reminded her of him. The gentle breeze when she and Gale were allowed out of the underground bunker brought to mind the time they’d spent on the roof of the training center, watching the sunset. The smell of the bread that they sometimes got with meals, dry and dense – nothing like the airy loaves that had filled her house after they’d returned from the Arena – that she forced herself to eat. The earthy scent of him, a teasing memory of their time on the train when she’d been closer than close, held tightly against him night after night so that her bed smelled like him.
It was those nights on the train that her mind went back to most often. The way he’d wrapped himself around her so tightly that she finally felt safe, cocooned from the outside world. His heartbeat thumped in her ear, reminding her that she wasn’t alone. Sometimes she woke, deliciously warm and filled with a need so powerful that it pulled her from a sound sleep. It was then, alone in the darkness with him, that she’d fully realized the depth of her feelings…
His body was a temptation - so different from her own. Her fingers moved over his chest, tangling in the soft curls that they’d let him keep. Heat surged through her as his nipples hardened beneath her hesitant touches, the length of his cock growing, pressing against her thigh. She’d indulged every whim that ran through her head, touching him with an abandon she’d never be brave enough to do in the light of day - the quiet strength of his arms, the solid warmth of his legs, heavy with muscle, the sleek curve of his ass, tight and firm beneath her questing fingers, the hard ridge of his cock beneath the thin cotton shorts he wore to bed. He was different than Gale, more compact, thick versus lean, brute strength from lifting heavy bags of flour where Gale had suppleness to his frame from all the years spent hunting and hovering on the edge of starvation. When Peeta held her in his arms, it was as if by sheer might alone, he could keep her safe.
When his eyes had finally opened, finding hers in the dim light spilling from the bathroom, she’d blushed violently, retreating. His arms had wound tighter, pulling her back against him, one heavy thigh pressing insistently between hers. “Stay,” he’d breathed against her lips.
She searched his gaze, a surge of heat rushing through her, centering between her thighs at the blatant need in his eyes. Closing the scant distance between them, she’d kissed him, pressing her lips to his, eyes closing as he’d opened his mouth beneath hers, tongue sliding out to tease and play. The heat surged along her veins, fierce need coiling tightly low and heavy between her legs, clawing deeply with sharp nails as he pressed her intently down, his hips cupped in the cradle of her thighs.
Her body was on fire, burning from the inside out, a conflagration of want and need colliding, building ever higher, her hips rising against his, the thick ridge of him pressing tightly against her core, coiling the tension higher and tighter with every stroke. She gasped, the coil exploding, sending shockwaves of ecstasy pounding through her body. Wave after wave of unadulterated bliss saturated her, drawing her deeper and deeper down into the spiral.
They shed the remainder of their clothing in a flurry of tangled hands, both gasping as they finally met skin to skin. The pain when he entered her had been minimal, gone with the first hesitant thrust of his hips against hers, the tight spiral of need and want building hotly when his lips found the hollow behind her ear, palm covering her breast, kneading the soft skin.
She was jerked from her memories by the sound of the door sliding open, Boggs standing there, staring at her silently. Rising to her feet, she stretched, loosening up joints that had tightened during her stay on the floor.
Boggs leaned against the frame. “You’re sure you’re up to this? We have no idea what we’ll find in there.”
Katniss met his gaze with a measured stare. “He’s my responsibility.”
Boggs snorted. “Did you pull his name from the bowl? Circumstances are responsible for his being where he is, not you.”
Katniss narrowed her eyes. “You’re wrong,” she said flatly. “Do you honestly believe that if Snow didn’t think he mattered to me, he would have been used so badly?”
Boggs shrugged. “Does he matter to you?”
Straightening her shoulders, she gave him an icy glare. “Screw you.”
He lifted his brow. “So, it wasn’t all lies, eh Mockingjay?” Without another word, he spun on his heel and began walking away from her. Katniss stared after him for a long moment and then scrambled after him, slinging her bow over her shoulder as she caught up.
“What’s the plan?” she asked right before they entered a small conference room. Several screens were displaying ever changing data, refreshing so fast that Katniss couldn’t make heads or tails of what it was displaying. Gale was in the corner, conferring with someone on his communicuff, his grey eyes solemn as they met hers across the table.
“The plan is, you stay in the middle of the pack until we clear the resistance. The last thing I need is you getting injured,” Boggs said as he gave her another measured glance. “Or worse, getting killed. Coin has plans for you girl.”
Katniss knew very well what kind of plans Coin had and it sickened her to her very soul. Hadn’t she paid enough? Hadn’t they all?
Boggs walked to the table in the center of the room, tapping the keyboard that was embedded in it. A large holo appeared above the table, shot through with red dots and three flashing blue ones. “The blue is where we think they’re holding Johanna, Peeta and Annie. We’ve had intel from our operatives on the inside that Enobaria is being held in a separate area, so we’re not going to make an effort for her. If we find her, that’s one thing, but I’m not risking personnel on her.”
Jackson leaned over, studying the layout intensely. “What are we looking at in terms of resistance?”
“Heavy,” Beetee said from his console, spinning his chair around. “We’re planning on interrupting the daily broadcasts with the propos, but those aren’t normally shown in the facility where they are housing the prisoners. It’s on the far side of the Capitol, away from city center. We should be able to land and infiltrate, as they don’t know how many hovercraft we have. We’re hoping that ours fits right into the daily traffic schedule, which is unusually heavy for this type of facility. Gale?”
Gale cleared his throat, moving closer to the table. “We’ve got loyal people stationed throughout the building, they’ll be instrumental in getting us into the facility and back out again once it goes into lockdown.”
“And that brings us to Katniss,” Boggs said. “She’s going in as part of the team, but she’s to be held in reserve until we rescue the hostages.”
“Why can’t she wait here?” Jackson said, flicking her gaze towards Katniss and then back to Boggs.
“Because we’re not certain of Mellark’s mental state. It might be that we need her to keep him quiet and calm to get him out of there.” Boggs replied.
Katniss let her gaze slide slowly to each face, watching as they accepted Bogg’s statement and moved on to the next discussion point. She’d never felt more useless in her life. This was Gale’s world, not hers. She could use a bow and kill things (people), but strategy and planning - so not her specialty. Pulling out the chair to her left, she sank down into it, listening as the plan formed – centered on those three blinking blue dots.
~*~
It’d gone off almost textbook perfect. The heavy resistance they’d expected had never materialized and it was almost too easy to get Peeta, Annie and Johanna out of the facility and into the hovercraft. Enobaria had been found as well, sitting calmly in a cell on the other side of Annie’s so they’d brought her along.
Gale had taken a bullet to the shoulder, and one of Boggs team a knife wound to the kidney, but the rest of them had escaped unscathed. The same couldn’t be said for the hostages. Annie was nearly comatose, lost in a world that only she could see, rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. Johanna was the worst of the three, a bloody, soggy mess with deep burn scars across every inch of skin Katniss could see. Her hair had been shaved completely off and the ugly red wounds were scattered across her scalp as well.
Peeta was ambulatory, although he had a pronounced limp and his arms were littered with red, angry scratches. His smile when he’d seen her was tired, but wide; shining like a beacon across the months they’d been apart. She ran to him and he opened his arms, nearly falling as they held each other tightly. It took four people to pry them apart so they could begin moving back to the hovercraft, and Katniss refused to let go of him the entire time, her body curved into his side, arm wrapped around his waist, supporting him as they made their way back to the landing area.
Once aboard, she’d fidgeted as the medics had scanned him, running a small device over his body and intently reading the data on the screen. When they’d pronounced him acceptable, she all but shoved them out the door, engaging the lock on the tiny compartment. Spinning around, she leaned back against the door, staring at him across the small space.
Tension rose hot and thick between them. “Katniss?”
She closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around his neck while he pulled her against him, hands sliding along her thighs and up onto her back. Her legs folded around him, her core pressing hotly against the growing bulge between his thighs as their tongues danced. Push, pull, tease and torment, the kiss was endless, spiraling out of control. His hands cupped her ass, pressing her against his body, needy sounds escaping his throat. Their tongues slid against one another in a teasing dance that left them both breathless and wanting more – so much more.
He rolled onto his back, tugging her with him until she straddled his hips, threading his hands through her hair. Katniss moaned into his mouth, rocking against the hard ridge of his cock. Searing need twisted hard between her thighs. She needed him, so much. Pulling back, she began unfastening her clothing. His eyes glazed as her skin was bared and she laughed, poking at his stomach. “You too.” Peeta nodded, pulled from his stupor and began unfastening buttons, nearly ripping them in his haste to have his skin against hers. Finally they were skin to skin - thigh to thigh, and chest to chest.
Katniss curled her hand around the thick length of his cock, pumping it lightly. Sitting up, she rose until she hovered over him and keeping her eyes locked with his, sank down onto him. Her eyes nearly rolled back into her head as he filled her, stretching her wide. Her breath hissed out between her teeth as her hands found purchase in his, fingers locking together as her body adjusted.
She pulled her knees in and began to rock, moving slowly up and down, hitting her clit on every stroke. Bliss shot through her, radiating outward from where they joined. His hips lifted to meet her on every push, sweat sheeting both of their bodies. Her head tipped back, pleasure licking hotly along every nerve. She was close, the tension ratcheting up until she felt like a live wire. The wave crashed, pulling her under in an endless motion.
He followed her moments later, hips pumping against hers as he found his release, pulling her down to rest on his chest, their hearts pounding together. When she finally found her breath, she lifted her head, staring down into his eyes. She pushed an errant curl off of his forehead. “Stay with me?”
A soft smile tugged at his lips. “Always.”