Chapter 19
Battle
Safe inside the transporter with Kora and Nayli, Aelanna heard the battle outside, and she prayed Darren and his brothers would keep safe.
They had air to breathe, and Blayze had pushed them in there and told them not to open the door on any account.
He said it more colorfully than that, and they wouldn’t have dared to disobey him due to his fierce tone.
After what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes, Blayze opened the transporter door and poked his head in.
“You can come out,” he said. “It’s over now. The invaders have gone.”
He didn’t look any worse for wear than a few cuts and bruises and his battle leathers were torn in places. He'd got away lightly, but Nayli flung her arms round his neck.
“My poor baby. Does it hurt?”
He attempted a smile. “My head’s killing me, where the Drek knocked me out.”
“Let’s get you to the med bay.”
Aelanna was looking for Darren, also for Kora and Lero. The enemy had gone, including the dead bodies. There were a dozen Dheltan warriors sweeping the area. She stepped over bright green blood, in places mixed with red, and she feared the worst.
Holding onto his oxygen mask, Darren was standing alongside the wall watching the repair bots which had patched the breach.
Pilot Joel and Engineer Yunus were also present.
Aelanna went up to them and slipped her hand inside Darren’s arm.
His hand found hers and squeezed it while he panicked about his brother, eyes searching frantically.
“Blayze. Is he—?”
Blayze stepped up to him. “Here, brother. I held on to the transporter.”
“Bless the dimming, you’re safe,” Darren rasped, choking with emotion, and he hugged his brother tightly to him.
Adrenaline coursed through him, making him lightheaded and his limbs fluttery, but that could have been made worse by his heavy intake of oxygen.
Repair bots had found him almost immediately he had kicked the Drek into space; one had held the oxygen mask to his face, and he had gulped it while the other cut the ties on his wrists.
Another pair of bots had done the same for Blayze.
Darren turned to Joel. “Will it hold until we get to Drypso?” he asked.
Joel nodded gravely. “Should do, but it’s a serious breach and we’ll keep the inner door locked just in case. I’ll post sentries on it in case anyone is foolish enough to try to come in here.”
“What happened? Are you hurt?” Aelanna asked, glancing anxiously between the pilot and Darren.
Joel looked at her. “Your bodyguards were very brave. I’ll make a detailed report in the diner, later.
” Darren smiled down at her. They smiled at each other.
He had saved her life and those of her friends.
The idea warmed her insides, and she felt closer to him than ever.
A sudden insight startled her: she loved him.
Kora came up and took Aelanna’s free hand. She took comfort from the physical gesture. “You alright, babe?” Kora asked.
“I’m fine, you?” Kora nodded and bit her lip.
“Where’s Lero?” asked Aelanna. “I haven’t seen him.”
The pilot answered her question. “He commed down from the cabin floor. He’s checking to make sure it’s clear of threat, and he’s patrolling the corridor. He says all the girls are accounted for except you three.” He turned to Darren. “Take your charges to their cabins, I’ll take over here.”
Nayli and Blayze had already left for the med bay. Aelanna and Kora gave the pilot a grateful smile and let themselves be taken to the elevator by Darren, who had an arm round each of them, his injured arm round Aelanna.
“Shouldn’t you get that seen to?” Aelanna asked as they went up.
“After I’ve dropped you off at your rooms.”
She frowned at the slash along his forearm and his bloody knuckles.
The slash oozed blood, but he didn’t seem concerned by it, and she guessed Dheltan warriors were stoic by nature or by training.
When the elevator arrived at their floor, the doors opened.
They saw Lero patrolling in the empty corridor.
Kora ran to him but stopped short of reaching him.
“Are you hurt?” she asked. She couldn’t help concern showing on her face.
“No,” came his answer and he hugged her. Darren’s brows shot up. By this time, he and Aelanna had reached Lero and they shook hands warmly and Lero hugged him too and slapped him on the back.
“Good to see we all made it, brother,” said Lero, the first time Aelanna had heard him choked up. He might be grumpy and give the others a hard time, but he’d shown at that moment he had as big a heart as his brothers. “I’m going to see Kora to her room and then I’ll check on Blayze,” he told them.
Darren nodded, placed a hand on the small of Aelanna’s back and they went into her cabin.
“Don’t you want to get your wound dressed?” she asked.
He guided her to sit on her bed. “I’m more worried about you. You’ve had a shock but you’re safe now.”
She was glad for his concern, but she didn’t want to be fussed over. “I’m fine. I’ll tell you if I need the doc.”
“Have you got a medical box in here?” he asked.
“I don’t know. What does it look like?”
They found one attached to a wall above the sink in the en-suite. It was white with a green cross printed on it and she guessed some symbols were universal. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before but she’d had no reason to.
He opened it and fumbled around inside. To her, it was obvious that his wound was hurting more than he let on, and he’d have to care for it single-handed. The enemy blade had slashed through the sleeve of his leather jerkin and cut him from elbow to wrist.
She took the box from him. “Here, let me do it. I was First Aid Officer at work.”
He gave in to her without protest, and she asked, “Can you take your jerkin off without disturbing the cut, or can I cut the sleeve?”
“No, I can take it off, but it’s ruined anyway.”
He took off his wrist device and sat down on the toilet seat, lifted his arms and she gently tugged the sleeves, but his face was riddled with pain.
She lowered his arms again and using the scissors from the kit, cut the sleeve along the underarm and round the armhole so she could remove it without touching his injury, then she cut off his singlet as it pained him to move his cut arm.
“The good news is that it’s clean, but this is only a temporary patch.
The doc needs to check you over,” she said, inspecting the wound, which was mildly weeping blood.
From the box, she recognized gauze, lint, bandages and tape, and a few other things.
Darren said to put a glowing blue gel Universal Healant on it, from a tube she didn’t know.
Between the two of them they finally had him bandaged up.
“Promise me you’ll go to the medical station.
We don’t know if the blade was clean. You probably need a shot of something,” she said, looking into his eyes.
Being as he was seated and she was standing he had to gaze up at her but not by much.
He was so tall and massive and she was small by comparison.
His pale blue eyes lit with amusement. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, a smirk playing around his mouth.
She raised a brow. “It’s not hurting anymore?”
“The gel has anesthetic in it.” With difficulty, he took off his one-sleeved jerkin and dropped it on the floor. “Check the rest of me.” The words sounded like an order, but his tone was pleading, respectful, and she took it in the spirit in which it was meant.
Having cut off his tops, she studied him.
His torso was magnificent. Huge brawny shoulders, massive biceps and a six pack to die for.
All presented in that cherry-tinted skin.
He was ripped enough that he would grace every newsstand on the cover of a glossy magazine for bodybuilders to the envy of all of them. Even his muscles had muscles.
And he had risked everything for her, even his life.
If that didn’t show her how devoted he was to her, she was a fool.
She felt his pull, despite their resistance to the other, for different reasons, despite that he was breaking down her walls.
She was attracted to him. She loved him and she couldn’t fight it any longer.
She couldn’t resist running her hands over him: starting on his shoulders, down his pectorals, over his hard nipples, a darker shade of cherry, around his ribs and down his abs.
She stopped at the waistband of his leather pants, which covered his hips and legs.
Bulging thigh muscles rippled under the leather.
She swallowed and flicked her eyes up to his bare torso.
She felt weak at the knees at the sight of him, and at his scent, pine, masculine, distinct in the confined space.
“Have you been wounded on your back?” she asked, rubbing her fingers over his biceps. “Stand up, turn around and let me check.”
He got to his feet but didn’t turn around. She felt his arms around her and suddenly she was pressed to his warm, hard body. He kissed the top of her head, his large hands stroking her back.
“I almost lost you,” he whispered in her ear.
Bereft of words, she looked up at him. Their eyes met, hers full of love and longing, then he lowered his head and he was kissing her.
She didn’t resist as he deepened the kiss, walked them from the bathroom across the room to the bed, all the while kissing her.
They stood by it, arms round each other, clutching the other like they were the only ones who made sense of existence.
At first his kiss was gentle, holding back his passion until his tongue pushed at her lips, demanding that they open.
She yielded to him, and he drove his tongue inside her mouth, plundering it, and she was willing to be plundered.
She dueled her tongue against his, matching his passion.
It was the hottest kiss of his life, until he pulled back, breaking their connection and remembering his place.
He blinked rapidly, then looked at the floor. “Forgive me. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
She cupped his cheek, stroking her thumb over his light brown stubble, which he usually had at this time in the late afternoon; she lifted his face, and caught his reluctant gaze in hers.
“I want you to do it. We’ve only got a week until we’re separated forever,” she whispered. “With me stuck on Drypso, and you returning to Ohiri, we’ll never see each other again.” She swallowed back tears.
He tried to strip her dress off single-handedly, and she had to help him. She wore only her bra and panties, which showed off her curves, and they were the loveliest thing he’d ever seen. He ran his good hand over her breasts, which were middling size, not too big, not too small.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, taking off her bra. He took a nipple into his mouth and sucked. She gasped, and he thrummed the other with his thumb and it hardened beneath him. Her skin was so soft and silky.
He stopped what he was doing and pulled back, taking a step away, and she could have cried at the loss of him.
His handsome face was lined with worry, and a frown marred his beautiful looks. She’d messed up his man-bun. It was coming apart and silver wisps of hair fell about his ears. Or maybe it was the battle.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
She lay back on the bed.
“I’m sure. We must have this to remember,” she said.
He got on the bed and crawled over her, raising her knees and parting her thighs.
“I will treasure the memory,” he whispered, like a vow. Kneeling between her legs, he slid off her panties, and she lifted her hips to help him, then his hands and mouth were all over her. It had never been this way with Brad.
She’d never felt her need so much with any man. Maybe alien warriors had magical powers; maybe he’d cast a spell over her. She didn’t care, she wanted this moment to last forever; she wanted to be frozen in time. With him. From the reverent look in his eyes, he worshiped her.
She only knew she wanted more. More of him.
More of this. In a flash she had jumped off — from what exactly, she didn’t know — but she felt the intensity so much it almost hurt.
When she came down, she lay there limp and spent.
The intense yearning that had filled her replaced by intense love for him.
He stretched out by her side, lying on his good side because he couldn’t lie on his injured arm, then he turned onto his back.
He closed his arm around her and pulled her close. She cuddled into him, relishing his warmth and his pure male scent, his quiet strength.
“You know, your hair reminds me of Yithir,” he murmured, his hot breath caressing her cheek.
She pulled her head back to look at him. “Your sun? How so?”
He twirled a strand in his fingers. “The color. It’s like Yithir when it sets on Dhelta on a clear day. I’ll always have those memories.” He looked into her eyes and his own had darkened; the light blue irises narrowed. “Your hair is beautiful. I love you Aelanna, you are my fated mate.”
Her hair color was a quirk of nature, she knew, but he’d told her he loved her. All the need she’d ever felt for connection, comfort, family and even — dare she go there? — a lover and soul mate, was satisfied by him.
But it wasn’t to be. He wasn’t hers to keep and she wasn’t his. She was destined for others. She had to be strong.
“What about you?” she asked. He had taken her to heaven, and it was only fair that she should return the favor.
“That you should give yourself to me is a blessing from the gods. I won’t risk compromising you to satisfy myself, although I want to more than anything in the universe.” He heaved a regretful sigh.
They locked eyes. He looked at her so tenderly and with such love and sadness, tears stung the backs of her eyes.
“I love you, too, Darren.”
Then his mood changed and he gave her a sly grin. “You could give me a hand job.”
She could see he was hard, and, she had to admit to herself, she was curious.
He was large all over. Was his cock in proportion to the rest of him?
Would it even fit? She turned on her side and reached for his leather pants when there was a knock at the door.
She flopped on her back with a frustrated sigh.