Onidus 13 #2
Instinct takes over. I flash the image of a protection shield to the front of my mind as I bring an arm up between us.
A golden shield bursts to life between him and us.
The light swirls around us like angry solar flares.
The Ginarigon, in a rage, bashes his shoulder into it.
His force knocks me back a step. Solara hugs me from behind and screeches.
I spread my feet, feel them tear free of the flip-flops, and finally dig into the concrete.
Opening my Vibrance, I draw in more power. I cannot let anyone think they can hurt her and get away with it. I strain under his strength, summon more energy, brighten in the process, and finally push him back.
“Do not…” I growl as I force him another step away. “Harass her…” He backsteps once more. “Again!”
“Enough!” Ohni storms into the pool area in her dark blue high-tech armored suit trimmed with gold.
I let my shield fizzle out. Garnak staggers and gets himself upright.
“Garnak, get your shit, and get out!” Ohni snaps. “Tension with your species eased because they helped with the Mars battle. But you have disrespected enough of the racers!”
He whips at her, veins bulging and fists curled.
Ohni sighs, draws her gun. “This is your final warning, Garnak!”
The moment he takes his first aggressive step toward her, she fires at him. Garnak seizes from the electric shock and topples on the concrete.
“Ooh.” The Amphiran cringes. “That’s gotta hurt. I mean, I’ve been stunned before by bigger dudes like Prince Aurelius. But damn.”
I’m not letting go of Solara unless the guards intend to peel me off of her. She clings to my back, and I hold her in place with an arm.
Ohni turns to us and lifts a finger.
I brace for my punishment.
“I will permit that one break in display of power because I believe it was necessary to protect your mate.”
Mate? My heart lurches into a clumsy sprint at hearing her say it like it’s true. I want it to be true. It is true. My Vibrance has chosen, but Solara hasn’t chosen me.
Ohni turns to Garnak. “But for fuck’s sake! How hard is it to follow the rules? This is supposed to be a fun party! Stop beating each other up! Damn it!”
She storms out. Her guards pick up Garnak and cart his groaning body out after her.
We get a few whistles from other racers, and a few claps as I face Solara and brace her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She nods. “Thanks for defending me…again.”
Ashani gets out and walks over to us. “That was amazing! How did you know how to control him?”
Solara shrugs. “Had a few in my office before I was fired. Knew a couple in college.”
“Well, I think you just taught all the women here a new trick, a yellow-banded blonde on a nearby lounger remarks. “Thanks for that.”
“And Onidus…” Ashani turns to me. “What the hell? You’re magic?”
“We just wield the universe’s energy through the Vibrance in our souls.”
She gives me a blank smile as she nods, then shakes her head. “Okay, yeah. Well, whatever that is, is super boss.”
“Thanks?”
“Come hang out with us!” Ashani adds. “I’d love to hear more about how you two met.”
Solara looks up at me. “Maybe…tomorrow. I think we want some time to wind down after that.”
“Oh? Oh, yeah. Okay.” Ashani winks at her and rejoins Maclyn in the pool, who watches me with pity.
He’s not the only racer who looks at me differently now. Several of the males and females look like they’re in pain when they glance in my direction. I don’t like the attention. I don’t want their pity. But I cannot change reality, only Mask it. And it’s too late for that.
“Come on.” Solara grabs her towel and encourages me back toward the complex. “Don’t worry about them.”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
She shakes her head. “You have to stop apologizing for being who you are. Nothing about you makes me ashamed or annoyed. Quite the opposite.”
She sits on a bench beside the glass windows that line the bottom floor with a view of the pool party. But her attention isn’t on the colorful lights or splashing racers. She looks up at the stars instead. “I’m sorry he did that to you in front of everyone.”
“I’m just glad he didn’t get to you.”
“Another male off the list.”
I’m afraid she’s going to leave here without the one thing she came for.
“Pretty sure that was the only other one with his eyes on me. But it was a hard no, anyway.” Her gaze swings low and to the scars over my stomach. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“About what?”
She frowns. “I am very familiar with scars. You have many old ones and new ones. So I know you regularly come within an inch of your life.”
“I didn’t want to scare you away from me or dig into my past and relive battles that are over.”
She runs her finger down a slice mark from a Denarsoan bullet that scored my side. Her touch is so delicate, so foreign, that it’s intolerable. I don’t like the way it makes my heart stutter or the beat in my core flicker.
I catch her hand. “Don’t. Please.”
Solara gapes, then pulls her hand back. “Sorry.”
I brace my head, hating that I just made her uncomfortable when she’s trying to be sweet. “I am used to firm touch: bashing into things, roaring heat, tearing. I don’t know how to process that kind of contact.”
“You used to.”
“I had not lived through many battles back then.” I look over at her. “And I was rather frozen because a pretty girl was touching me.”
“Oh?” Solara smiles, and I wish I could’ve protected her better back then.
“Can I ask you something?”
She nods. “Sure.”
“Why didn’t you go with the Delsfein?”
“What?”
I look over at her. “Why didn’t they take you with them?”
“I had another purpose in this dimension. Where they went required leaving their bodies. Did you want that for me?”
“No. I wanted you safe though, more than…”
“Than what?”
Than I want you for myself. But I can’t tell her that because I’m working, and because I don’t want her to say she wants me just because I want her. I need to know how she feels without influence.
“If you don’t have prospects, what’s your plan?” I ask.
She frowns. “You’re changing the subject.”
“Yes.”
She scrutinizes me. “I don’t know.”
I sigh. “Can we just forget about what happened out there?”
“I…can’t.” Solara glares in the direction Garnak was taken. “He violated a privacy barrier in a way that, in my mind, is unforgivable.”
I’m beyond uncomfortable. I don’t know what to do except to walk away. I get up.
Solara catches my wrist.
I look back at her. “No one should hurt you now because they’ll wonder if I’m hanging around a corner. And I need some space to think. I’m sorry.”