Synnr's Hope

by Kate Rudolph

  He needed her. Now.

  He spun her around and gripped her hips when she braced her hands against the wall. “Like this,” he rasped into her ear.

  “Fuck. Yes,” she moaned back, arching against him.

  Her entrance was wet and ready for him and he slid inside, coming home as her tight heat enveloped him. A frenzy of lust overtook him, and he buried himself to the hilt before pumping in and out of her, hard and fast. She was cursing and moaning and demanding more with every thrust.

  The sensation was almost too much. She’d already given so much, and he couldn’t hold back until he had her crying out in pleasure, but with her scent all around him and her heat hot enough to scorch he knew he was close.

  This was what Matching and bonding was about. He’d been a fool to resist. What did he have to fear from the depth of his connection with Lena? He could feel her spark deep within him and sent a jolt of power her way.

  She moaned and jumped and sent her own power back.

  It almost tipped him over. But he wasn’t done yet.

  He reached around and ran his fingers over the apex of her thighs until she started to shake, her hips jerking quickly, demanding release. They’d wasted weeks, he’d wasted weeks, where they weren’t fucking, weren’t giving each other these exhilarating sensations. He was going to fuck her a million times to make up for it. And then a million more because he could. He’d never tire of her.

  His fangs scraped against the top of her shoulder, enough to barely break the skin. It was all she needed. Lena cried out and her body rippled around him in orgasm. And with a final thrust, he emptied himself inside of her, completely spent.

  They breathed heavily, her leaning against the wall, him leaning on her, and both sank down to the floor after a long moment. He couldn’t let go of her, even if his cock did slide from her body. She looked sated and self-satisfied. And his. Completely his.

  She gave him a lust-drunk smile. “I’m just going to rest for a second. Don’t think I can walk.”

  “I can carry you,” he offered. Already the chill of the basement was starting to get to him, and he didn’t want his Match to be cold. Their clothes were too far for him to reach, and he wasn’t quite ready to move either.

  And she knew it. “You don’t look so steady yourself,” she teased.

  He considered it. She was slumped over him and content. Did he really want to interrupt that? No. Not one bit. “Perhaps you have a point.”

  She nuzzled against his neck. “Computer lady isn’t going to give us a third mission today. Right?”

  He smiled at her name for the AI in charge of the facility and her penchant for giving it a personality. It was a program, it had no emotions, and it didn’t care what they were doing. Its job was to get them trained, nothing more. “Would you place that bet?”

  She groaned. “Fuck. Okay. One more minute.”

  It took more than one minute, especially when Lena started tracing his tattoo with her tongue. His cock started to plump up again and he grew hopeful for another round.

  “We have the bed upstairs,” he reminded her.

  “Yes.” And that was enough to motivate her to stand. “Race you.” She took off without giving him a chance to agree. A laugh burst out of him, and in that moment Solan was sure that things between them would turn out right.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  THE VILLAGE WAS QUAINT, cute, but not touristy at all. It wasn’t filled with little gift shops and overpriced stores trying to cater to vacationers. As far as Lena knew, there was nothing vacation worthy anywhere close to this town. It made her stand out like a sore thumb. She didn’t see any other humans, and some of the children playing in a park looked at her like she was wearing a neon sign saying she was different. But they were curious, not hateful, and after a little while one of the braver ones came up to her and held out a ball a little smaller than a softball.

  “Throw it there,” he said, pointing to a girl with braided hair standing in a small chalk circle in the middle of a group of friends.

  Lena shot Solan a glance and he just shrugged. Playing with children, sure, why not? She threw the ball at the kid and winced a bit when the child had to jump high to catch it. Whoops. Maybe her aim was a little off. The girl grabbed the ball in both hands and landed right on the chalk, teetering for a moment before gaining her balance and staying within the circle.

  “That was close,” said Solan. “If she steps out of the circle she’ll have to trade places with one of her friends.”

  “You know this game?” It reminded her a bit of catch. But the girl didn’t throw the ball back to Lena; instead she tossed it to another friend who threw the ball right back to her, low and fast. Lena thought the girl would catch it, but she had to step off the circle to get a grip on it. The children cheered, and the boy who had tossed the ball did a victory dance before taking his spot in the center circle.

  “I played it when I was a child.” Solan reached up and caught the ball when it came his way, tossing it back in one smooth motion.

  At first she and Solan were nice to the kids, throwing the ball back without any tricks. But after several rounds they started to have fun with it. Solan would hold the ball for several moments and take his time, acting out different ways he could throw until the kids were all laughing and encouraging him. Lena had her own fun, pretending the kid in the circle threw so hard he knocked the wind out of her. But eventually the game was over and the kids went on their way, leaving Solan and Lena to their own devices. But before they went, they all came up and introduced themselves.

  Solan was a natural at talking to them. She had never seen him around kids before, but she would be lying if she said that seeing him right then didn’t make her wonder how he would be with kids of his own. Not that they were anywhere near ready to have kids. She wasn’t even sure if he wanted any. Did she? Back on Earth it had been something she planned for one day, but that day never came. She hadn’t thought much about it since ending up on Aorsa, but now that she was with Solan she had more to consider.

  There the shops were mostly clustered around one street, with a couple others dotted along the streets that shot off the main road. Lena and Solan took their time exploring, holding hands and pointing out interesting looking shops and landmarks along the way. They had all day to take in the town. That was all they would need. It was charming, but it wasn’t somewhere that would take much time to investigate. Enjoy, not investigate. They were on leave; there was no need to look for dangers lurking in every corner. But that wasn’t a skill that Lena could just turn off and on.

  Her eyes snagged on a Zulir man in a black jacket and hat. He pulled the brim low and kept his eyes cast downward. He had to look up when he crossed the street and Lena got the impression of some kind of scar or birthmark on his face, but he looked away again. Sure, that was suspicious, but no one else was paying him any attention. It was probably the training facility that had her on high alert.

  But she kept an image of the guy in the back of her mind. Just in case.

  They found themselves in a small shop that sold home goods, and Lena took her time looking at the soaps, smelling each of them and pausing when she found one that smelled like lemon. “It’s weird how some things are just the same as back home,” she said, running her finger over the hard surface of the bar. The texture was a bit different, but the smell was the same.

  “Are they?” Solan stepped up beside her and grabbed another bar from the basket, giving it a quick sniff before putting it down.

  “This smells just like a fruit called a lemon. That blanket over there feels like wool. The kids outside were playing catch. If I close my eyes sometimes I forget where I am.” She did so then and breathed deep, imagining the lemon cookies that her grandmother would bring to Thanksgiving dinner. And her smile turned sad when she remembered that big family Thanksgivings were not going to happen again. “And then I remember who I left behind.”

  “Who?” he asked cautiously.

&nbs
p; She put the soap back; maybe it was better not to remember. They headed outside and continued talking. “There were my parents, and I had two younger siblings. Have. Had? It’s weird to realize that decades have passed since I was taken. A part of me wishes that I knew what happened to everyone. How did they deal with my disappearance? Then a bigger part of me likes to imagine them just like they were the last time I saw them. Is that weird? Is that wrong?” It had been months since she’d last seen her family before being taken off the streets of Oklahoma City. She kept putting it off, and it was easy when she was working on a huge case to make excuses. She’d thought she would always have another chance. She’d never imagined it would be taken from her like it had been.

  Solan put his arm around her and hugged her close. She let herself be comforted by his warmth. “I can’t imagine what that’s like, not really. But it’s natural to miss your family. Especially under the circumstances. How could you expect something like this to happen?”

  Yeah, getting abducted by aliens had not been one of the dangers she was looking out for. But making a new home in a strange world? “It’s funny you should mention that.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “I feel a lot like my grandparents now. They had to leave Lahore, their home city, when they were younger than me. There was a lot of strife, to say the least. It’s all very complicated and I could spend a week explaining it to you,” but she didn’t want to spend all that time going over the history of colonialism, Pakistan, and India, to him. “It wasn’t safe for them,” she said, summing up and simplifying her family history into one sentence. “They moved across the world and left everything they knew behind. I understand them a lot more now.” And that was more simplification, but it was close to getting the point across. She scratched behind her ear, feeling the bumps of the translator embedded under her skin. “This thing makes it easy at least.” And that was enough about Earth for now.

  But Solan wasn’t ready to change the subject. “If we could find out what happened to your family, would you want that?”

  Her immediate response was no, but Lena bit it back and thought. “How would it even be possible?” If she didn’t know for sure what happened she could make up any story about her family. Did she really want to find out that they had spent fruitless decades looking for her, growing sadder and more desperate by the year? Or did she want to find out that they had forgotten about her? She didn’t know which was worse.

  “Some ships travel across the galaxy faster than others. It may take a few years, but we can purchase a data record from Earth. It would allow us to search all information on their interconnected web of data. We could find out what happened to your family.” He said it easily, as if he wasn’t offering a mix of her hopes and fears.

  “You can buy the Internet? How does that work?” Even if she didn’t want to know what happened to her family for sure, it might be interesting to know what had happened to her home.

  “Some ships can scan the information and condense it. It wouldn’t be updated past a certain date. But if we bought one scanned 30 to 50 years after you were taken, you might be able to find the information you were looking for.” His arm tightened around her, and it helped to anchor her in the moment as she considered his offer.

  “Don’t we have to wait decades for that?” She had been plucked out of 2006, but her friend Emily came from the year 2019. And as far as anyone knew, it had taken them 60 to 70 years to travel from Earth to Kilrym and then on to Aorsa.

  “Ships can broadcast data quicker than they can transport humans,” Solan explained.

  She wanted to know. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know.”

  “No need to decide now. But if you ever want to, let me know. I’ll find something for you.”

  Lena stopped walking and Solan stopped with her. She cradled his face in her hands and kissed him. How could she do anything but? He wanted to give her family back to her in the only way he knew how. Even knowing that the information could hurt her. He trusted her to make that decision.

  If she wasn’t careful, she was going to fall in love with him. But maybe she didn’t need to be careful. Maybe loving him was exactly what she was supposed to do.

  SOLAN WAS LEFT ALONE when Lena went into the back of the shop to find the bathroom. Mixed in among clothes, shoes, and other accessories were several display cases full of nice jewelry. Solan was no expert, but he had spent enough time among high society to recognize the real thing when he saw it. A green gem on a golden chain caught his eye. Gold wire twisted around the rough cut stone and braided up to meet the chain. It was beautiful, not refined, but that was what made it interesting. And it would look amazing on Lena’s neck. Without giving it much thought Solan waved the clerk over and bought the necklace. The clerk took it back and wrapped it up in paper before handing it to him.

  Then he started to doubt. Did Lena like jewelry? Would she like the necklace? Should he let her choose something instead? The questions bombarded him and he shoved the gift into his pocket. He had to think a little more before giving it to her.

  A man bumped into him and Solan glanced up, taking him in. He looked sort of familiar. But he and Lena had been walking through town all day. Solan had probably just seen him earlier. There was a scar that bisected his bottom lip, but nothing else particularly noteworthy. He wore a black jacket and a black hat and moved away hastily before Solan could say anything. Should he follow after him? Was the man up to something?

  “You’re acting weird.” Lena came up to him and Solan jerked in surprise. He hadn’t realized she was back.

  “No, I’m not.” That was a non-suspicious response.

  Lena just smiled. “Okay, weirdo.” She kissed him quickly, and when she pulled back, Solan was smiling too.

  He didn’t know how he had ever resisted this thing between them. Now that he had opened himself to it, it felt inevitable in the best way. And being out in the village with Lena was giving him a glimpse of what life might be like in the future when there was no threat of war and no obligation to the Synnr military. Would she want a family? Did he? Yes, with her he did.

  Was this how his father felt with Shodi? Solan scowled.

  “What’s with the sour face?” Lena asked, bumping her hip against his.

  “Nothing.” It came out harsher than he meant. He didn’t want to take his feelings out on Lena. “I’m sorry, I was just thinking about —”

  “Your dad?” she guessed.

  “How did you know?” He had thought of his father more in the past month than he had in his entire life, and he didn’t particularly like it.

  “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist,” she said cryptically.

  “What?” What was that supposed to mean?

  “Earth saying,” Lena explained. “I don’t have to be really smart and educated to guess something obvious.” She paused. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I want to forget about it,” he confessed. They were having a nice day. He didn’t want to ruin it.

  Lena smiled and kissed his cheek. “Okay. Let’s go get food.”

  Just like that? It was too easy.

  But she let it drop and she didn’t give him any hint that she was thinking about it for the rest of the day. They ended up in the town’s nicest restaurant, though their options were limited. They only had three restaurants to choose from. And it took Solan a little while, but he figured out that the servers were treating them strangely, specially. It all became clear when their server explained that they were used to seeing newly Matched units coming down from the cabin up the road. Rumors had spread about the training facility, but the town had no idea it was run by the Synnr military. They thought it was a retreat frequented by newly Matched units. Neither he nor Lena was about to tell anyone the truth.

  They took their time eating, and by the time they left the restaurant it was after nine o’clock. They had to be back at the facility by ten and it was a bit of a walk. But eve
n in a rush the walk back was nice, and he and Lena kept their hands laced together. They made it back with ten minutes to spare and sat on the step in front of the door for a few of those minutes before going inside.

  “What do you think the chances are that this murder house lets us sleep through the night?” Lena asked.

  “Making that bet would be tempting the gods.” But no matter what the house threw at them, it couldn’t take away the memory of this perfect day.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  ONCE THEY STARTED SUCCESSFULLY completing assignments, the training drills began to all blur together. Lena knew it had been less than a week since she and Solan had spent the day in the village, but otherwise she had little track of time. They weren’t sleeping on a defined day and night schedule, and the house sometimes threw three or four missions at them in a single day. She couldn’t wait for this to be done. But she wasn’t going to complain about the minutes and hours she stole away with Solan.

  In one mission it was up to her to keep Solan shielded from incoming blaster fire using only her wings. She wanted to curse up a storm. Why did they rely so much on their wings? Couldn’t they make some kind of shield for this? But she managed it, shifting the defense as Solan moved. He was in the middle of defusing a bomb. And she was especially proud of herself when she managed to maintain her wings and shoot her spark to take out one of the enemy who was laying down fire.

  After that, Solan showed his appreciation in bed, laying her out and spreading her legs so he could feast on her sex. He took his time, and it was its own kind of torture, but the kind of torture that made her beg for more. And for mercy. He held her on the edge, teasing her mercilessly but not letting her come. Was it hours? She didn’t know.

  She couldn’t keep track of time, she couldn’t think. Her entire existence shrank down to the feel of Solan’s tongue and fingers and the wicked things he was doing to her. She screamed in ecstasy when he finally showed mercy, calling out his name and making promises she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep.