Chapter 19 #2
“DIA says it is to stay until we are official.”
“Ah. Well, you are stunning in that dress.” I tug at the collar of my armor, feeling a bit stifled in such regal attire. It isn’t me. “It is hard to look at you and not catch fire.”
Brynna smiles to herself. “You look damn good yourself. Is that Drathious royal armor?”
“DIA says it’s from my colony, Drathis.”
We find a table by windows that overlook the back of the complex. Fieri takes up a guard post near a pillar between the tables.
We order from the digital menu at the table, and I can’t shake the feeling that everyone is looking at us.
“Your wings are sure shiny,” Brynna remarks, touching a pink crystal on the table with a little flame dancing from a wick in the center. She runs her finger through the fire, back and forth as we wait for our food, like it doesn’t burn her at all.
“Bryn?”
She looks up at me, briefly. “Seems it’s already working.”
I get the sense she’s sad and reach across the table to take her hands. She gives me one of them while she continues to play with the flame.
After a deep breath, she says, “I don’t want to change anything. But do you ever feel like the life you’re destined for doesn’t seem like the one you’d pick for yourself?”
I hang my head, fearing she’s unhappy, and it’s my fault. “I do. All the time.”
“How do you live with it?”
“One day at a time.”
Fieri shifts behind me.
She tilts her head and holds her finger in the fire, still not pulling it out. The firelight reflects in her eyes, and it’s addicting to look at.
“I thought I was leaving my farming life behind me. I thought… I’d meet some alien prince with money and power, and he’d just keep me safe, lock me away in his tower, and all I’d have to do is make a few kidlets and spend the rest of my days just loving my family.”
So I’m not what she hoped for, or what she expected. “I’m…”
She points at me. “I swear to god if you say you’re sorry one more time for things just being the way they are, I’m going to…”
Brynna looks away. “I don’t know. That was an empty threat. I just hate that you have to feel bad about what’s out of your control. That we’re still stuck in this damned war with no escape. And that…”
“You don’t get to have your rich prince?” I ask.
“I don’t actually care about that. That’s what my sister wanted. It seems like a great idea, but I think I’ve over-romanticized it in my mind because it’s too easy. And that’s not what I want. I need to know that what I do matters. And if I’m honest with myself, that’s staying in the game.”
“The race?”
“No.” She winces. “The war. I have always played defense, tried to avoid detection by enemy forces, just slip in, do my sales drop, and get out. Many out there still need my help. But I really just needed a team…a family with me. I needed a personal reason to fight.”
She looks up at me with confidence now, and I’m certain her eyes are glowing. “And if they’re coming for our friends, Sky and Corzin and Hatchet and Quinn, then I want to be there, fighting for their homeworlds.”
I draw her hand to my mouth, kiss the backs of her fingers, and thank the stars I found her.
“This isn’t just a coincidence,” she says.
“DIA made that clear. I just wasn’t sure until I was alone on my ship again, and all the emptiness came rushing back to me.
Being with you, and your team…” Brynna throws Fieri a look.
“That’s what I needed. And not just anyone, but others who understand what it’s like to work your life away under the control of someone who thinks they know better just because they consider themselves superior. But that doesn’t mean they are.”
A server sets our drinks and food between us.
Brynna and I thank him. He bows and leaves.
“Sir,” Fieri says. “Ohni is on approach.”
Sir? It’s strange hearing him address me in such a manner.
As we begin eating, Ohni crosses the room like a shadow, wearing a form-fitted black business suit with a black race badge on her chest.
She walks up to us. “Sounds like you haven’t done your mystery tour yet.”
“No, ma’am,” I reply. “We were planning to do it tomorrow.”
Fieri moves behind my shoulder.
“Well,” Ohni eyes him. “I’m certain you’ve heard of the Nebs movement through the system.”
“Yes,” Brynna replies. “What’s going on?”
“Many have been talking about leaving the races early. If that’s you two, then I suggest you go after dinner. I’ll shut down the challenge. You just go down there, make your way to the end, and pick a prize.”
“Yes, ma’am. Can we help with anything?” I ask.
She gives us a small smile. “We have significantly increased forces since the Mars battle. Just promise me that you stay alive. It breaks my heart every time we get a couple together, and they go off and die in battle. I’m not sure how many more times I can hear about that before I can’t take it anymore and quit. ”
Brynna sits forward. “I have not forgotten my promise to you. And I will return. Besides, we have to have good moments to make the bad ones worthwhile. And you give us all that. You provide this as a dream to those who feel hopeless.”
“The same could be said for you.” Ohni steps back from the table, dips her head. “May the universe bless you in your travels and your battles.”
DIA contacts me. “Your friends, Hatchet and Corzin ,are departing Abr with their mates, heading for their home system.”
“We’re going,” Brynna says. “I know you want to.”
“We are supposed to stay. It’s safer here for you.”
Brynna leans across the table. “And yet a Talhuskin still came after me. Danger is everywhere. I’d just rather be hunting it than the other way around.”
I steal her hand from beside the candle, take the finger she’s swiped through the flame since we sat down, and I lick the light dusting of soot from her skin. “Whatever you want, gorgeous.”
Brynna bites her lip and grunts in lust. “I want you, but I say we go fight for our friends. It’s more time critical.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” I look back at Fieri. “Right?”
His face wrinkles with frustration. “It is where I want to be, too.”
“Okay. It’s decided,” I say.
Brynna and I eat quickly in silence, and I sense she feels the same urgency as I do to get this over with.
Fieri looks relieved when we finish. He pats me on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”
We get up to leave but are stopped by a Derorsin, moving into our path. “Do you think these games are a joke? You show up to steal the good stuff, to win prizes, and then just disappear.”
Fieri holds him back while I corral Brynna behind me. “You do not know the struggles of a Drathious, so it is not your place to have expectations. Now go enjoy your meal with your mate, and let us leave.”
“Something’s going on with him, and I don’t like it,” the knobby brown armor-plated male asserts.
Fingers of green electricity reach out from Fieri’s suit of armor. “Do not challenge me, Derorsin. I am not in the mood.”
The male backs off, and Fieri leads us out of the room.
I pull the chip of my earlier prize from a pocket and swipe it over my wristband. We follow the map that loads to a door in the lower level, tucked behind the zoo.
I take Brynna’s hand as we descend with Fieri at our back into the rocky tunnels that wind deep into the moon.
We enter a chamber where signs and directions light up the cavern and a pathway.
We hustle along the offline course toward a distant chamber.
But when I get to the end, I discover a cavern that descends into a vast room and spreads between us and the prizes at the other end.
The instructions say to fly, fight, or climb.
“Fight what?” Brynna asks.
Across the cavern is a platform with three glowing prizes. I remove my bands and loosen my wings as a large tail rises from the shadows. And suddenly, I don’t care about the prizes at all.
“Bryn…” I hold her back with a hand as the creature rises from the pit with eyes I know well. It’s huge and peers down at us with fuming breath that smokes.
She gasps. “Is that what I think it is?”
I look back at her. “They aren’t just in your folklore. They’re in ours, too.”
It lowers its head and gives me a once-over with a side glance, snorts, and sinks below the shadows again. Wings rustle.
“We should get going.” Fieri sounds stressed.
I fly across the cavern and land on the pedestal, look over the prizes, and call back to Brynna. “What do you want: a luster cruiser pod, a custom-made suit of armor, or a personal portal?”
“Portal!”
I grab the device, and confetti explodes in the air. I open my wings and soar back to her. “Alright, let’s get out of here.”
We race back through the tunnels and hike up to the main complex.
“Stay with her,” Fieri says, stopping outside Brynna’s ship. “I’m going to stay with DIA.”
“She can fly herself. You’re already here,” I say.
He pauses. “She’s been alone a long time.”
“DIA isn’t Orillium. She’s AI,” I counter.
Fieri shoves us up the ramp. “Your people are nearly the age of mine. Do you think she is really so different? Aura just built her a translator with help from MONA.
“Now you have a brief time until you reach the Mindor system. I suggest you use it in case you never get the chance again.”
His eyes burn with repressed pain, and I instantly know what happened to him and why he is alone. It’s why he finds us rogues and gives us a friend, while we need one.
“Watch your back,” I reply as Brynna closes up the ramp.
He tosses a small case to me. “If she needs it.”
I catch it and look at the orange solution inside. “Thanks.”
“See you in an hour.”
I nod and follow Brynna up to the pilot’s seat as the ramp seals shut.
She throws herself into the chair and brings her ship online. I take the copilot’s seat and assess her defense systems.
“Abr Control, Brynna and Gypsy Star requesting departure from hangar Angel Six.”
“Brynna, Control. You are free to fly.”
“Thanks. Departing now.” Brynna’s ship slips out of the dock site and rises effortlessly toward the shield.
I set the portal device on her dash and look at our navigation and trajectory to pick out any weaknesses that might get us into trouble before we arrive.
“Looks like Amphiran ships and Drathious have spread out to guard both Mindor and Alpha Prime. Nebs are approaching from the outer rim of the system.” I track other ships leaving Earth’s orbit. “Some of the federation is getting involved. Others are mobilizing in Earth’s orbit.”
Brynna makes a call over her ear com. “Hey, Zariah. Is Elix there? Oh? I was wondering if you had any updates about what happened regarding the Neb.”
Seconds later, schematics load on her ship’s screens, moving quickly as if the system is thinking. “Please thank MONA for me.”
“He can hear you,” Zariah replies over the ship’s coms.
“Right. Thank you, MONA.”
“My pleasure, Brynna.” A masculine voice says through the dash. “Hello, Jorusk. DIA has a similar ETA to your vessel. I look forward to being within close range of you again.”
“Again?”
“I helped with DIA’s reprogramming.”
“Right, thank you.”
“Please see my report for tactics regarding Nebs. I will share your data with Amphirans. Perhaps we can find a way to set up a defense that’s worth a damn, as Zariah says.”
Brynna switches the communication back to her earbud. “Okay, we’re on our way. Hyperdrive spooling up now.”
She lowers her hand, tosses her earbud at the dash and slumps back in her seat. “Disengage munitions shields.”
The defense system blinks with missiles and guns coming online.
“Sneaky.”
“A trick I learned from Zariah and Elix.” Brynna extends a hand to me. “I’m so glad you’re here with me this time. I’m always stressed about going into battle all alone.”
I take her hand and pull her up from her seat. I’m not wasting any more time. “If I can help it, I’m never going to leave your side again.”
“We don’t have a lot of time, but I hate sitting and waiting.”
I look deep into Brynna’s dark eyes, see a flare of heat rise in them, and know exactly what she’s thinking. Burying my mouth into hers, I savor her sweet, luscious lips and the velvet of her tongue against mine.
She moans softly, finds my wings, and runs her hands down them, with a soothing massage that makes me wonder how she can feel so good. Every touch makes me want another.
I can’t wait for the bedroom and hoist her up by the hips, carrying her to the closest wall, where I pin her in place.
Sliding up the hem of her glittery dress, I take her thighs and encourage her legs around my waist. Eager to feel her soft flesh against mine, I draw the straps of her dress over her shoulders and free her bountiful breasts.
My ceremonial belt drops to the floor with one button. Another button releases my lower armor. It crumples to the floor. I brace her cheek and sweep my lips over hers, my heart racing, barely able to keep up with the Inferno surges in my chest. “Are you sure about this?”
She slides a silky hand behind my head. “Shut up and get inside of me.”
My Inferno charges inside. It wants to tear the plate from my chest and take her without restriction, but I can’t afford to hurt her now. I slip my erection free of my high-heat shorts.
When my cock flexes and bumps her slicked opening, Brynna’s eyes light up. I’m a rush of need and desperation as I tug her panties aside and guide my tip inside her heat. When she arches and gasps, I still. My instinct to mate with her fights with my fear of hurting her again.
“Too much?” My cock swells harder, filling with heat as my monster rakes vibrant crags in my body, straining to be free.
Easy, slow down.
My Inferno wrestles me for control.
I’m not going to hurt her again. Deal with it.
“Not enough.” Brynna digs her heels into my ass, drawing me deeper, bonding us until the tightness forces us to stop and catch our breath.
Her body glistens with sweat. Orange veins shimmer beneath her skin. She tries so hard to hold on for me. I’m certain now that anything that threatens her will meet a fiery fate, and I will do whatever it takes to protect her.
She takes me deeper.
We’re so close. But I can’t slow my heart. “Bryn…”
She nods. “I can take it. I want to. Do it.”
I rest my forehead against hers. “Deep breath.”