by Lauren Dane
“Yes.”
She smiled, satisfied and totally female. “Good. Now, tell me about them. Or is this a top secret thing, and I’ll have to wear a blindfold and be taken to a hidden facility with retinal and DNA scans? Will I have to take an oath?” She didn’t bother hiding her amusement, and he rolled his eyes.
However, a blindfold, well now, that was an alluring idea. Had merit. He tucked it away for the moment.
“They’ll assume that as you’re with me, you can be trusted. You won’t be privy to everything, naturally, but you won’t have to take any oaths. It’s a private residence where my friends are staying.”
“No top secret headquarters?” She mock-pouted.
“Maybe next time.”
“Will you get in trouble for bringing me? I’ll wait in town if that’s the case. I don’t want you to be disciplined or anything.”
His wrist comm crackled as Daniel’s hail burst through. He looked to her and then back down, answering.
“You’re on your way then? Good. Get those samples and that disk to Vincenz immediately. We’ve got some movement out there. The Imperialists have filed an official complaint with the civilian government in Asphodel. Apparently some of their people have disappeared, and they’re claiming it was a military corps operation.”
Andrei lifted a shoulder. “By the by, there was an explosion in the early hours, just before sunrise. In the Wastelands, I’m told.”
The corner of Daniel’s mouth lifted. “Did the symbol get left?”
Roman Lyons, the leader of the Federation Universes, the most powerful man in all the Known Universes, had ordered all Phantom Corps operatives to leave a lion’s head coin at the scene any time they’d put a stop to Imperialist trouble. He wanted them to know he would wipe them all off the face of all the ’Verses if he had to.
As such things went, Andrei thought, it was spooky and took the sort of aggressive tack the situation needed.
“Delivered via courier.” Straight to Jan Karl’s apartments in town, left on his doorstep.
“Good.”
He relayed some more information and signed off.
“He’s your boss?”
He looked up to her. “Of a sort. Yes.”
Before he could break out the kerchief to create a makeshift blindfold, the food arrived, and they ate in companionable silence.
She reached out to draw her thumb just beneath his eyes. “You need to rest.”
He did. Exhaustion, no real stranger to his life, had sapped his strength, and he was operating on the last dregs of his stores.
“Come, let’s nap. I promise your virtue is safe. For the time being, anyway.”
He allowed her to draw him to the bed, putting her closest to the wall so he could lie on the outside, being the barrier between the door and her safety.
She pressed against his back, her arms around him, face against his back. Taking care of him. Making sure he ate and rested. It had been a very long time since he’d felt this way.
Sleep came fast and deep with her scent in his system.
Chapter 12
Julian answered the door and instantly locked on to Piper. He smiled and held his hand out. “You must be Piper. Come in.”
They followed him inside and down the long entry hall toward the office and labs.
“I’m Julian, and that over there is Vincenz. He’s had his head in those calculations and the code for days, it seems.” He took Piper’s hands, squeezing them. He called back over his shoulder, “Vincenz, come and meet Piper.”
Andrei noted the easy way the two had, feeling less worried when he saw Julian’s sadness had ceased carving runnels of pain into his face. The sadness was there, but it wasn’t stamped over him so desperately.
“While he finishes, why don’t you two settle in? The guest room is all ready. I had a meal ordered, so we can eat while you debrief. Ellis will be joining us.”
That took him by surprise. “Via vid?”
“No. He’s taking care of some business in town, but he’ll be back shortly. I’m surprised you didn’t bump into him when you were at the Portal Station.”
With a nod, Andrei led Piper, quiet Piper, down the corridor until they’d reached the guest sleeping quarters and they dropped their things off.
“Clean clothes in the closet,” Julian called out from the other side of the door.
He needed them. He hadn’t even changed when they’d returned from their trip to the Wastelands. He’d need a long, hot shower, but with Ellis there, it meant something big—bigger than usual—was happening. He’d need to keep on his game and save the relaxation for later.
“Drop your clothes in that basket there, and we’ll have them cleaned up.” He told her this as he did it himself.
“Who is Ellis?”
He sighed, wavering on what to tell her. Not that he didn’t trust her, but each thing she learned put her in more danger. At the same time, it was robbing her of information that could actually save her in the future if he didn’t tell her.
“He’s the boss. The big boss.”
“I thought Roman Lyons was the big boss.” She stripped her shirt off, and his gaze roved over her upper body, especially her breasts and the love bite on the swell of her hip.
“He’s just one size down from that.”
“Should I be afraid?”
Knowing Ellis, he’d love Piper the moment he met her. The man had a thing for women like Piper. Hells, Roman’s wife, Abbie, had the nearly seven-foot-tall Ellis wrapped about her finger. She even called him Wil.
“No.” In any case, no one would harm her as long as Andrei could draw a breath.
“Andrei, how much stuff do you have in all those pockets?” She watched, eyes wide, as he pulled all the samples and the chip from various places. “You’re like one of those animals with a pocket on their body to carry their offspring in.”
He sighed inwardly, moving to the closet to grab the clean clothes. Julian hadn’t missed a detail. Clothing in Piper’s size hung there as well. He tossed a few things her way.
“Nothing luxurious, but certainly clean and comfortable.”
“How long had he known I was coming? Did you tell him my size?”
She peeled the rest of her clothes off, and he leaned back against the door to watch. He should have taken her in the transport. It would be hours of debrief and work before he’d have her alone again, and they had no time just then.
“Makes me feel better when you look at me that way.” She smoothed her hands down the front of the blouse she’d just put on. “This is lovely. Thank you.”
“He’s detail-oriented.” Andrei left it at that. Of course her personal information, including photographs, was in a file somewhere, and that’s most likely where Julian had gotten the idea of her size.
She moved to him, putting her arms around his waist and tipping her chin up to look at his face. “If you need me to leave the room, just ask. I promise I won’t give you any guff in front of these men. I know this is important.”
Before he could stop himself, he dipped his head to taste her mouth, staying for a while because she was too delicious to resist.
The front door opened and closed, and he straightened. “Let’s get you fed. You’ll have to come back here, or there’s a screening room upstairs if you want to watch a vid. A library, too, if I remember correctly. I’m to be debriefed, which, as you’ve pointed out, is top secret.”
“Are you laughing at me?” She grinned and opened the door.
“Yes.”
“Good.” She looked at him over her shoulder as she walked ahead of him. “You need to laugh more.”
Piper tried not to gape when she nearly ran into a man the size of a tree trunk. She looked up and then up some more and into the startlingly handsome face of the man who had to be the boss Andrei had just mentioned.
He smiled down at her, taking her hands.
“Welcome. You must be Piper Roundtree. I’m Wilhelm Ellis, and I wanted to extend
my appreciation, and that of Roman Lyons, for all the help you’ve rendered Andrei.”
“Thank you, though you need not thank me. Andrei is like my family; I’d do anything for him.”
Ellis’s left eyebrow rose over intelligent eyes. “Lucky Andrei.”
“Come on into the work room. I’ve got the food out, and we can get started.” Julian waved them all toward the room they’d been in earlier.
“Sit, Piper. You must be tired.” Vincenz poured her a mug of kava, still steaming. She took it gratefully, adding a few drops of sweetener. The table held several platters of meat, cheeses and vegetables. A lot like home, and she felt better for that bit of familiarity.
No doubt about it, though she tried to act nonchalant, she was overwhelmed and way out of her element. Still, she wanted to be with Andrei as long as she could in any way possible, and there was no denying how amazing it was to watch him in his many varied guises.
“Eating and talking.” Ellis nodded at Andrei. “Good job on the sample.”
“Thank you, sir.” Andrei handed over several tubes, packets and a data chip. “The samples are from the mine. We went to survey it all.” He tossed another chip to Vincenz. “Video footage of the mine and what distribution and processing system I could see.”
“We went to survey it?” Ellis turned to Piper, who raised her chin and stared back. Of course she had to pretend she was dealing with Taryn, who was scary but nowhere in the same league as Wilhelm.
“Yes, sir. Piper rendered much-needed assistance to me. Has done since I first arrived. She monitored the situation from high ground with a weapon as I was down at the mine site. Her superior piloting skills have been integral as I was able to infiltrate the merc community in Asphodel on the weight of her reputation.”
“Sounds like we should offer her a job.” Julian said it, and he didn’t much sound as if he was joking.
Vincenz tucked the chip from the destroyed transport into a data receiver and began to unlock the coding. The samples were similarly loaded into test trays for analysis.
“The mine is well staffed?” Ellis asked.
“Was.”
The smile Ellis gave Andrei chilled Piper down to her toes. Andrei ran his foot along the back of her calf to comfort her, and it worked.
“We need to debrief. Piper, will you excuse my terrible rudeness?”
She stood, holding a roll in one hand and the kava in the other. “Andrei told me you have a vid screening room upstairs?”
“Top of the stairs, second door on the left. Please help yourself to whatever you find to watch. The kitchen is down here. The pantry is fully stocked, and there are juices and some ales in the cold case.”
All four men stood when she moved to the door. She wanted to say something flip and silly to Andrei but knew it wasn’t the time for it.
She settled on one of the large, overstuffed chairs in the room, tucking her legs beneath her. Choosing an action vid from the screen menu, she tried not to think about anything but enjoying the show.
Instead, the sound of explosions and weapon fire was her music as she thought.
She’d spent her life surviving. There had been times when she’d truly wanted things, and she’d worked hard to attain them. But somehow, new blast doors for the house and a better engine for the zipper did not really equal what she felt right then.
Being with Andrei had brought her need for more to the surface. Not more things. Not more credits. But a life with a man at her side. A life with Andrei in it.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew he wasn’t the kind of man who would be home each night by the time the glow lamps went on. She knew there’d always be his job, and sometimes it wouldn’t include her.
And she was all right with that. She accepted who he was, and more than that, it was part of what she loved so much about him. His dedication to something more than himself.
It made him into what she considered to be a real-life hero. In his quiet way, he was larger than life. Much like the way she loved him.
Somehow, she’d always imagined falling in love with the man she’d consider her mate would be miraculous and startling. It was, indeed, miraculous, but as she’d already loved him eleven years before, she wasn’t so much startled by it or by him. No, she was startled by how easily she simply accepted it right then. Accepted how much she loved him.
There were things she’d been undecided on, things she wasn’t quite sure how to feel about. Not so this thing between her and Andrei.
She was old enough to know what it felt to love someone. Old enough to know the difference between a fleeting infatuation and the depth of love. And she believed, quite strongly in fate.
Oh, she knew others would laugh and think her silly, but there were things in the world that could not be explained. Things a body just knew or did. Her future wasn’t one path but limitless possibilities, branches and connections.
She’d lived her life making choices. Not always the ones she wanted to make, but she’d made them and dealt with the consequences. She’d existed and survived, and on the continuum of joy and sorrow, she’d had much more of the former. Her life was filled with love. Love she’d made the deliberate choice to open her life to.
And now, this was one of those branches in the road. Her path was Andrei; she saw that clearly. She walked exactly where she knew she was supposed to be and would choose him with everything she had.
She smiled, leaning back in the seat, wiping away the tears, knowing her future would only be one with her life twined with his.
“Thanks to the information you’ve gathered, I believe we’ve stemmed the flow of Liberiam into Imperialist territory.” Wilhelm paused as he looked through the data before him on the table. “As of this morning, we learned what Parron was being used for. A substance used in super-machines to keep them from overheating. A gel used in the firing mechanism. It’s more complicated than that, of course, but the details aren’t relevant. Only that the material’s flow from the Federation Universes has been cut off.”
“Processing plants.” Vincenz looked up from his work between five different screens of data. “It has to be. The part Mirage plays. The other two ’Verses had raw materials. They’ve got to be processing it somehow. They can’t possibly smuggle that sort of mass and not be detected.”
Ellis leaned back. “Get Daniel on the comm. Andrei, I want you here looking for these processing plants.”
He’d have to leave her, send her back to Asphodel.
“Yes, sir.”
“Go talk to her while we wait to get Daniel on line. Roman should be involved as well.”
Heart breaking, he ascended the stairs and headed toward the screening room. That broken heart stuttered when he saw her there, tears on her face. Never had he needed to fix something more in his entire life.
He moved quickly and ended up on his knees, pulling her into his arms. Over and over he’d done it. He’d tried to hold back, tried to erect defenses against her, but there weren’t any where she was concerned. He needed her.
“What is it? Are you ill?”
She hummed her pleasure, nuzzling his neck. “No. Not that I’m complaining about this lovely cuddle you’re giving me. Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been crying. Are you unhappy? Do you miss your brothers?”
“Oh that. I’m the opposite of unhappy. I’m overjoyed. Because I’ve chosen you.” She said it as if it made sense. She had a way of doing that.
“What are you talking about, Piper, and why are you crying over it?”
“Women cry when they’re happy, too. You cannot tell me you’ve no experience with the emotional wiles of females. They moon after you everywhere we go.”
At his confused expression, she laughed, kissing him quickly before she went on. “I’ve chosen you to be my man. To be very old-fashioned, which I am in some ways, you know, my mate. I already loved you of course, but this is different, a deliberate choice to love you and be with you.”
“Piper, we ca
n’t be together. Especially right now. There’s a war starting. I have to stay here, and you have to go back to Asphodel.” He paused at her silence, wary. And he didn’t want to hurt her. “When this is over, I’ll come to you. I don’t know if I have anything to offer you. But I’ll come to you.”
Her brows rose and she cocked her head to the side. He was still on his knees, so they were eye to eye. “I’m not going back to Asphodel if you’ll be here.”
“You’ll be safer there. Or, you, Kenner and Taryn all go to Ravena. Stay in my house while I’m gone. It’s the Center, no place better protected.” He nodded, making his mind up, and still she had that face. “What? Woman, why are you looking at me that way?” he thundered, and she jumped up.
Instead of fear or sadness, she jumped up and down, clapping her hands, grinning.
“There it is. Now I know for sure you love me, too. You have a lot of fire inside you. But you keep yourself so controlled. You lost that control for me. Oh, stop looking at me like that. You and I both know you love me, and that is that. What kind of woman would not know a man loved her when he shielded her from dead bodies and jumped in the line of fire for her? And you nearly broke someone’s hand because he was snotty to me.”
Still wearing that grin, she crossed her arms over her chest. Like a lunatic.
“You love meeee. You love meeee.” She sang it, dancing around the room as he watched, shaking his head.
“You may never say it, being the stoic body you are.” She shrugged. “But I know it and you know that I know it. You show me you love me, which is better than telling me. Now, are you going to tell Ellis that I’m staying to be your backup, or shall I?”
She headed down the stairs at a very high rate of speed as he made it to his feet, yelling her name.
By that point, everyone had gathered at the base of the stairs.
“Mr. Ellis, I do like you, and you’ve been very nice to me so far, but I have to tell you I have no intention of going back to Asphodel while Andrei stays here.”
